Fact check: The strangest fakes of 2024

1. No, Trump did not sit on incontinence pads 

The US election campaign saw some heavy verbal artillery — but also incontinence pads and nappies. At least on social media. Rumors that Donald Trump or US president Joe Biden were incontinent spread like wildfire — garnished with images or videos of them allegedly wearing diapers or sitting on incontinence pads during talk show appearances. However, the photos and videos were not real.

For example, this image of Trumpallegedly sitting on an incontinence pad during an interview can easily be verified by watching the original video. Just before Trump sits down on the sofa, there is no pillow; it is merely his jacket hanging out at the sides. No incontinence pad is visible.   

2. No, there aren't whole crickets in chocolate bars 

Special edition chocolate containing cricktets for athletes? Back in 2023, the German company Rittersport published a picture on Instagram of a chocolate bar with 'whole crickets' inside. High protein, in other words. This supposedly new variety caused a stir among users when it resurfaced this year shortly before the 2024 European elections. During that time, a lot of misinformation was shared about the EU's approval of insect-based food.  

 

However, according to the company, the picture was meant as a joke. To this day, there is no such chocolate produced by Rittersport, and it simply remains a marketing joke. 

3. No, immigrants do not eat people's pets  

One of the biggest hoaxes of the year: Immigrants allegedly eating pets. Dogs or cats or wild geese, the speculation knew no bounds. It started with a post on Facebook and was amplified by Donald Trump in the first televised debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris, where he said that immigrants in Springfield were eating pets — it wasn't the only time he made anti-immigrant remarks that night.

Social media users then spread claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio were stealing residents' pets or taking wildlife from parks. However, there is no evidence to support this claim. Both the police and officials in Ohio have denied the allegations.  A media search for cases of immigrants eating pets reveals that there are no reports to back Trump's statements. But the unsubstantiated claims have been circulated on right-wing and far-right channels.     

4. No, Macron did not have a gay affair on a boat trip  

Again and again, politicians are the target of disinformation and manipulated videos and photos. This year, for example, Macron was allegedly seen kissing another man on a boat trip. The video appeared on Georgian and Russian-language social media accounts.   

While Macron did indeed go on a boat trip in the summer and real pictures of it were shared online, the kissing video is AI-generated. This can be seen, for example, in the unrealistic arm movement of the man who is allegedly kissing Macron. 

And it is not the first fake video of Macron this year. He is said to be seen dancing in videos from the 1980s in gay nightclubs. But those were also a deepfakes. The real videos do not show Macron. And besides, Macron was too young at the time to have been dancing in nightclubs.  

5. No, Zelenskyy did not buy Hitler's Mercedes  

According to misinformation spread online, the Zelenskyy family has been allegedly spending money on very expensive historical artifacts, such as the King Charles Highgrove House or amillion-dollar sports car. And this year he allegedly also bought Hitler's Mercedes for $15 million as these posts suggested. The posts went viral shortly after the US announced additional aid to Ukraine worth nearly $8 billion, however, they were wrong. It is a photo composition. Through an image reverse search it is possible to ascertain that the Mercedes was photographed at a classic car exhibition in 2014 and pasted in front of the Ukrainian presidential office. Therefore, there is no evidence that Zelenskyy bought Hitler's car. 

6. No, Tom Cruise did not act in a documentary on the Olympics  

As the world geared up for the Paris Olympics this year, so did the scams. Tom Cruise rumoured to have starred in a Netflix documentary about the Olympics. But in reality it is a deepfake of him. The documentary itself is fake and was never produced by Netflix. Microsoft security experts have identified the documentary as part of a Russian disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting the Olympics and the International Olympic Committee. 

7. No, this man did not rise from the dead  

This year was also called the super election year. In addition to elections in  the  US and the EU, India also voted. Shortly before the elections, a video emerged of Muthuvel Karunanidhi, long-time head of government in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, calling on young people to get involved. However, Karunanidhi has not been alive since 2018. With the help of AI, he was brought back to life only for this election campaign. 

8. No, there were no pro-Putin chants in a stadium at EURO 2024  

During this year's European Football Championship in Germany, two videos surfaced of Romanian fans allegedly chanting pro-Putin or anti-Putinslogans. But both audio tracks are fake, as DW found out. This was proven by a comparison with original recordings from that day, as well as by a DW journalist who happened to be in the stadium at the time and confirmed that there had never been such chants. Probably just cheering soccer fans and not Putin supporters or opponents.  

9. No, the Iranian president's helicopter was not shot out of the sky by a space laser  

When the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian crashed, users on X claimed that a space laser was to blame. While laser technology is advancing rapidly in the military industry, experts say there is no laser weapon capable of bringing down a helicopter from space.   

10. No, no one manipulated a hurricane  

A little more sunshine on some days? Many would like that, but it is not something that can be influenced. Nevertheless, this year some people were convinced that Hurricane Helene in the US had been manipulated and directed in a certain direction.  There is no evidence to back up this claim. Furthermore, no such technology exists to manipulate a hurricane.  

This article was originally published in German.