The Journal FactCheck

The Journal FactCheck is now on BlueSky, where you'll be able to stay up to date with our latest articles about fact-checking and misinformation. Follow us here: bsky.app/profile/factch…

Ebola, hantavirus, Covid: viruses have hit the headlines since the pandemic despite, according to some adherents of alternative medicine, not existing at all — that is, if you ignore a wealth of evidence. jrnl.ie/7047783

The outbreak of Hantavirus on a cruise ship has presented conspiracy theorists with their latest opportunity to spread fear and disinformation.

Posts claiming Pope Leo XIV had spurned the Trump administration by honouring Iran’s ambassador misrepresent a standard ceremony that saw 13 diplomats honoured. jrnl.ie/7040703

A screenshot what appears to be a bizarre news story has been shared widely around the internet, claiming that the government is offering free cheese to people who are first to take a hantavirus vaccine. The claim is false. jrnl.ie/7039499

Claims shared online that say the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that hantavirus is spreading rapidly across the world are false. The WHO has not made this claim. The outbreak remains limited. jrnl.ie/7038517

non-profit groups say their volunteers and staff face “routine harassment” due to misinformation being shared online. Some received so-called 'bait' emails which were intentionally designed to provoke a controversial response. jrnl.ie/7037459

Ttrying to understand hantavirus – an older, rarer and far more fatal disease – with reference to Covid, one of the most contagious and unexpected virus outbreaks in the last century, has led to distortions in how people talk and think about it. jrnl.ie/7034400

An antiparasitic drug that was falsely held up as a cure for Covid during the pandemic is now being pushed again, this time as a cure for cancer. jrnl.ie/7032860

A video complaining about Ukrainians in Ireland makes a number of false claims, including the false statistic that nine out of every ten Ukrainians in Ireland don’t have jobs. jrnl.ie/7031572

A story from last year about an elderly woman being abandoned at a fast-food outlet has been reshared by an Irish anti-immigration activist with additional fabricated details. jrnl.ie/7026287

Dramatic events prompt dramatic speculation. And in the hours after what appears to be an assassination attempt at a dinner Donald Trump was attending, speculation about time travel, false flags, and Israeli plots ran wild. jrnl.ie/7025396

Comments by Leo Varadkar caused controversy the past week. “People in rural Ireland are very quick to tell people in urban Ireland that ‘we’re the real workers," he said. “That’s not the case. We’re the ones paying all the bills." Was he right? jrnl.ie/7021072

False claims of a stabbing at Connolly Station on Saturday night were shared to millions of people by a US commentator who had travelled to Ireland to cover the fuel price protests. jrnl.ie/7019035t

Micheál Martin told the Dáil on Tuesday that the government’s recent actions to reduce fuel costs were “proportionately the largest assistance package of any European country.” Does the data back this up? jrnl.ie/7015552t

Images appearing to show members of An Garda Síochána being turned away from restaurants and cafés during the recent fuel price protests, alongside detailed accounts of this happening, have appeared on social media recently. jrnl.ie/7012692

As Gardaí movied in to break up protests and blockades over the weekend, rumours both online and among protest groups claimed that the police involved were actually from Northern Ireland. jrnl.ie/7012034

False claims Micheal Martin was at his daughter’s wedding as protests were broken up were spread online over the weekend. jrnl.ie/7012015t

Misinformation about fuel protests have been bolstered by old videos, AI images, and the actor who played Hercules on TV in the '90s. jrnl.ie/7008908t

A petition against a proposed mosque on the outskirts of Letterkenny misleads about the size and style of the structure, using images of an English mosque more than ten times the planned maximum capacity. jrnl.ie/7006660t

Anxiety over rising prices caused by the war in Iran has prompted some startling, if dubious, claims online. But the truth might be even stranger. jrnl.ie/6999514t