The Santa Claus has been arrested for “maskless” crimes because he wore red. This raises some questions about the importance of wearing masks in public, but also reflects a growing distrust of institutions and celebrities.
The news industry is complicated, and fake articles and photographs are often disseminated on social media. Every week, the editorial staff at Blasting News identifies the most common hoaxes and incorrect information to help you distinguish truth from untruth. Here are some of the most widely circulated misleading statements this week, none of which are true.
World
The President of the European Commission has not asked for the Nuremberg Code to be repealed.
False claim: Social media posts say that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen advocated for the Nuremberg Code to be repealed so that COVID-19 vaccinations may be mandated.
Truth:
- The fake allegation gained traction on social media when European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker indicated during a news conference on December 1, 2021 that the bloc’s countries should consider making COVID-19 vaccinations obligatory.
- Von der Leyen, on the other hand, did not reference the Nuremberg Code at the news conference. There are also no recent interviews or speeches in which she has advocated for the repeal of the code.
- The Nuremberg Code was established in 1947 in response to the horrors done by the Nazi dictatorship during World War II. It lays forth 10 ethical principles to safeguard individuals against coercive and unethical medical experiments.
- The COVID-19 vaccines now in use are not experimental; they have gone through all of the essential phases of research to ensure that they are safe and effective.
USA
In Italy, the COVID-19 vaccination storage was not set on fire.
False claim: A video of a building partially consumed by flames was shared on social media, along with the claim that the fire was set intentionally by members of the Italian military to destroy a warehouse holding COVID-19 vaccines in protest of the government’s decision to require mandatory vaccination for security forces.
Truth:
- The identical footage was first published in the Italian press on December 15, 2021 in news concerning a fire that broke out at the Carabinieri police barracks in Tor di Quinto, Rome, according to a reverse image search.
- A spokeswoman for the Carabinieri General Headquarters told Reuters that the fire started in the 8th Regiment’s dorms and that there was no COVID-19 vaccine stockpile in the structure.
Europe
Santa Claus is not seen getting detained by German cops for not wearing a mask in the video.
False claim: A video was circulated on social media showing police officers arresting a guy dressed as Santa Claus at a Christmas market in Stralsund, Germany.
The individual was detained, according to the posters, because he was not wearing a face mask.
Truth:
- The guy costumed as Santa Claus was one of a group of 65 individuals who gathered at the city’s Christmas market to protest COVID-19 limitations, according to a statement released by the Stralsund Police Department on December 14.
- Officers took the guy dressed as Santa Claus to a police vehicle to ascertain his identity after he refused to produce any identification, according to the statement, and he was released approximately an hour later.
Brazil
The claim that mRNA vaccinations are harmful to youngsters is untrue.
False claim: Brazilian Facebook and WhatsApp users have shared a video in which American virologist Robert Malone claims to be the inventor of messenger RNA vaccine technology and claims that Covid-19 vaccines based on this technology, such as those made by Pfizer and Moderna, harm children’s bodies.
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mRNA vaccinations, he claims, trigger children’s bodies to generate harmful proteins, which may harm their immunological, neurological, and reproductive systems in the long run.
Truth:
- In contrast to Malone’s claim, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) points out that current scientific evidence shows that mRNA vaccines cause the immune system to produce antibodies and create protection against COVID-19 by inducing the production of a harmless version of the Spike protein found in the novel Coronavirus.
- Vaccination is recommended for children older than 5 years old by both the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO).
- In response to the claim that he invented messenger RNA vaccine technology, Malone did contribute to studies on the induction of immune response through the injection of genetic material, but he cannot be considered the inventor of mRNA technology because it is the result of decades of research by a number of researchers.
Singapore
The video does not show a fire-breathing bird that is responsible for forest fires.
A video has been posted on social media with the claim that it depicts a claimed kind of fire-emitting bird that is responsible for forest fires in Australia. This is a false allegation.
Truth:
- Fabricio Rabachim, a Brazilian visual-effects artist, first submitted the film on YouTube on December 14, 2020, according to a reverse image search.
- “Everyone who has ever met the quero-quero [a bird species often found in South America] guarding its nest knows how dangerous it is, but few have witnessed its complete might…”, according to the video’s description.
- Rabachim told AFP that he captured the bird in a So Paulo park and then improved the clip with computer effects to make it seem as though the animal was releasing fire.
- There is no record in nature of any bird species capable of generating fire, according to Australian naturalist Bob Gosford.
Uruguay
The United Nations did not elect Uruguay’s Luis Lacalle Pou.
as the continent’s finest president
False claim: Uruguayan Facebook and Twitter users have circulated messages saying that the country’s president, Luis Lacalle Pou, was named the finest president of the American continent by the United Nations (UN).
Truth:
- In July 2020, the identical material has previously been posted on social media. In a response to AFP at the time, Mireia Villar, the then-United Nations Resident Coordinator in Uruguay, stated the information concerning Lacalle Pou was inaccurate and that the UN does not publish any rating of this sort.
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