Social media is flooded with misinformation related to the fatalities andside-effects suspected to be linked to COVID-19 vaccines. Amid this, several posts on social media claims that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has said in an interview to CNBC that 7 lakh people will face death or disability after taking the vaccines. This message is going […]
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Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on 20 January 2021. The transition took place even as Donald Trump continued to claim that he had won the elections and the results were rigged in Biden’s favor. Amidst this a viral post on social media is circulating, claiming that before Trump […]
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Photos of newborn kids of celebrities and prominent families attract a lot of attention on social media. Sometimes unrelated photos get viral as photos of newborn children get viral as kids of celebrities. Recently we did a couple of fact checks in Sinhala on photos wrongly claimed to be of newborns of Rajapaksa family. You […]
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Many online hoaxes and scams spreading through social media platforms, especially through WhatsApp are always at Fact Crescendo’s watch. We have debunked several spam messages circulating on WhatsApp. Few days back, we came across a WhatsApp message, which claimed that World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to provide 500-dollar benefit. However, our investigations revealed that […]
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We have debunked several misleading content, which implied that Tamil language had been replaced by Chinese Mandarin script in some of the key public places in Sri Lanka. Here are few examples: Link 1 | Link 2 On a similar note, photos of a name board, which did not feature Tamil text, was shared once […]
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During the initial months of COVID-19 pandemic, a number of false claims were circulated alleging how people from different parts of the world reacted to the deadly virus. Now as some countries are trying out the new vaccines, similar claims on how people are reacting to the vaccines have emerged. A photo is being shared […]
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There are plenty of online hoaxes spreading through social media platforms and often these fake news peddlers identify themselves to be part of Facebook or WhatsApp. In the past we have debunked a few such posts which can be read here and here. Recently we noticed a number of posts, which had tagged mostly verified […]
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Increasing influence of China in Sri Lanka under the Rajapakshas has been an issue raised by the detractors of the regime and the opposition. We see a lot of campaign against this on social media as well. Sometimes false and misleading claims are also made on social media while trying to prove a point. Here […]
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A resolution banning cattle slaughter in Sri Lanka was unanimously passed in the parliament few months ago, but a final decision on this is still pending. In this context, images of Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, elder son of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, opening a meat-processing factory, claimed to be the largest of its kind in […]
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The recent Cyclone Burevi which hit the north-eastern coast of Sri Lanka on the night of 2nd December, gradually moved west towards the on the following day, without causing extensive damage. The Department of Meteorology and Disaster Management Center both had issued warnings about heavy rains and strong winds especially in the identified risk zones […]
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