Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel When politicians get arrested over underworld ties, old photos have a way of resurfacing with new, convenient captions. SJB Horana organizer Charith Abeysinghe and Rakitha Rajapaksa, son of former Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa, were arrested a few days ago on bribery charges linked to organised crime figure ‘Harak Kata.’ This […]
Continue Reading
Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel A graphic claiming the United Nations has redrawn the boundaries of human age groups has been circulating on Sri Lankan social media again this week. The posts are shared widely on Facebook with a caption telling people not to be fooled by anyone, who calls even someone in 60’s as […]
Continue Reading
Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel: Click Here Several false social media posts have been widely circulated attributing fabricated statements to Deputy Minister of Transport Prasanna Gunasena regarding the Upcountry Railway Line, which suffered severe damage from Cyclone Ditwah in late November 2025. Fact Crescendo Sri Lanka investigated three separate claims connected to this theme across […]
Continue Reading
Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel Every few years, El Niño returns, and every time it does, social media fills with fear. This June, NOAA officially declared a new El Niño event, and within days, Sri Lankan social media was flooded with warnings of imminent drought, catastrophic destruction from a “Super El Niño,” and claims that […]
Continue Reading
Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel Scroll through Tamil social media on any given day and you will find someone selling a miracle cure for hair loss. The pitch is always the same: 16 or 48 or 65 Ayurvedic herbs, a mysterious animal ingredient, guaranteed results in weeks, all-island delivery. The latest product making this circuit […]
Continue Reading
Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel Some hoaxes refuse to die. A voice message claiming that ISIS operatives are posing as NGO workers across Sri Lanka, visiting homes under the guise of collecting blood samples and injecting people with the HIV virus has been circulating on WhatsApp and social media since at least 2014. It spread […]
Continue Reading
As the third phase of excavations at the Chemmani mass grave site in Sri Lanka’s north continues to yield harrowing finds, a wave of viral photographs has been circulating on social media claiming to document the discoveries firsthand. Some of those images, however, have nothing to do with Chemmani at all. Fact Crescendo investigated. Social […]
Continue Reading
Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel Distorting figures and presenting them out of context is a well-established tactic in online misinformation. A post circulated on Sri Lankan social media comparing the construction costs of the Southern Expressway and the Rambukkana-Galagedara section of the Central Expressway, presenting figures that appeared to show the current government spending almost […]
Continue Reading
Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel Home remedies and health hacks spread fast on social media, and they spread even faster when they arrive dressed in the language of science. A video recently circulating in Sri Lankan and Tamil diaspora circles makes exactly this kind of claim: that filling a glass bottle three-quarters with water, placing […]
Continue Reading
WHO has declared an Ebola emergency, but not the kind most headlines suggest. The World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on May 17, 2026, after confirmed cross-border spread connected the outbreak in eastern DRC to imported […]
Continue Reading