March 2025
Update March 12, 2025: From the section about Igor Gundarov, the phrase that he spread conspiracy theories regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was removed. It contained an incorrect link. The previous version can be found at link.
October 2024
Update October 25, 2024: Enforce Media said it did not advertise for Alabuga in Los Angeles. “We have access to this billboard, but this is not our client,” the press service said.
August 2024
Updated August 14, 2024: Added description of other cases where Meta blocked user accounts due to hacking attempts. You can view the previous version of the analysis follow the link.
Update August 13, 2024: a fragment has been added to the text about the IBA statement of August 5 and the publication of journalist Alan Abramson on the 3WireSports website. The previous version can be found at link.
July 2024
Correction as of July 11, 2024: An error was made when calculating advertising revenue in The Economist channel for June 2024. You can read the text of the analysis before making corrections Here.
June 2024
Correction June 24, 2024: Changes have been made to the analysis. It is clarified that in the viral video, Biden is not addressing the person on the right side of the video, but the parachutist, who is off-screen but visible in a more general shot five seconds before the moment at which the excised fragment from the broadcast begins. The original version of the text can be found at link.
Correction dated June 07, 2024: Data on the minimum time from the moment of a tick bite required for infection with borreliosis has been removed from the material, since at the moment there is no consensus in the scientific community on the exact timing. Information has been added that prompt removal of a tick infected with borreliosis reduces the risk of transmission of infection. The original material can be found at link.
May 2024
Update dated May 22, 2024: A fragment has been added to the beginning of the analysis, which describes the history of the appearance of the viral text. The previous version can be found at link.
Update dated May 15, 2024: After the publication of this analysis, “Verified” received a response from The European Times. The publication confirmed that it has nothing to do with the fake video.
April 2024
Updated April 11, 2024. Added information about Bakhtiyor Rakhmonov. A version of the text before changes are made is available at link.
February 2024
Update dated February 29, 2024: Information about the origin of the sensational photo has been added to the text.
January 2024
Updated January 25, 2024. Founder and CEO of Forma Zdenko Tolt in response to Verified’s request for comment, he stated that the picture was fake: “There is not and never has been such a word in our dictionary.”
Updated January 23, 2024. Journalist Andrew Kenny, in response to Verified's request for comment, stated that he was not the host of such an audio room: “This is fake. There was no such event or press conference in which I participated. I've never interviewed Mike Johnston."
November 2023
Update dated November 13, 2023: Confirmation of the verified case from Jim Garrison, the organizer of Boris Yeltsin’s trip on the American side, has been added to the text.
Correction dated November 6, 2023: Incorrect information about the film “The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station” by the Lumière brothers has been removed. The version of the analysis before changes can be found at link.
October 2023
Correction dated October 30, 2023: In a fragment of text describing a clinical case of the development of hepatitis due to excessive consumption of energy drinks, the type of hepatitis is corrected: hepatitis C, the researchers suggest, was suffered by the patient asymptomatically, while energy drinks provoked the appearance of acute non-infectious hepatitis against this background. The version of the analysis before changes can be found at link.
Update October 20, 2023: The original photo of the ticket was taken on December 15, 2015. The original image can be found on the Moscow agency website, where it posted under the heading “Festive design of the “Single” ticket with the symbols of the Journey to Christmas festival.” In the version on the TVC website, the Christmas emblem is erased.
Correction dated October 14, 2023: In a fragment of the text about a study by Italian scientists in 2019, information about the recommendations of nutritionists has been corrected: with a diet of 2000 calories, it is permissible to consume 225-325 g of carbohydrates directly, and not pasta (it contains many other substances in addition to carbohydrates). Added clarification of how many carbohydrates are contained in pasta. The previous version of the analysis is available at link.
September 2023
Update September 29, 2023: The title of the material has been changed, an introductory paragraph about the difference between the concepts of “continent / mainland”, “part of the world”, etc. has been added, and stylistic edits have been made. A copy of the material before changes are made is available at link.
Update September 27, 2023: The text clarifies the search queries used by “Verified” during the analysis. The version of the analysis before the update is made is available at link.
Update September 27, 2023: Corrected the claim about the earliest post found to contain a viral photo. Added information about the photo that became the basis of the billboard. The version of the analysis before changes are made is available at link.
Correction as of September 21, 2023: Originally in this text it was saidthat the disclaimer in the video is written in Chinese. However, it is actually Japanese.
Update September 20, 2023
On September 12, after the publication of the analysis, the European Commission published an edited version of the recommendations, which caused a resonance in the media. In updated text it saysthat the responsible national authorities of the EU countries are recommended to focus their attention on the import into the bloc of vehicles produced or purchased in the Russian Federation, regardless of whether they are used for personal or commercial purposes.
“For items that raise minor circumvention concerns, such as hygiene items or clothing worn by a traveler or in their luggage and clearly intended solely for personal use during travel, national responsible authorities should apply prohibited measures in a proportionate and reasonable manner,” the redacted version of the document says.
The authorities of a number of EU countries have taken measures to implement the recommendations of the European Commission. 11 September Lithuania stopped allow vehicles registered in the Russian Federation into their territory, for except transiting to the Kaliningrad region or back. The next day a similar decision accepted Latvian authorities, noting, that the restrictions do not apply to cars already in the country, as well as personal belongings of entering foreigners, unless customs officers determine that these items are planned to be sold in the EU. Estonia accepted similar measures on September 13, having declared compliance with the “principle of reasonableness” when assessing the import of personal items from the sanctions list. At the same time, the head of the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs made a proposal to confiscate cars with Russian license plates already in the country (such a measure has not yet been approved). Finland banned entry of cars with Russian license plates on September 15, but some Cars are still allowed through. From September 17 prohibited entry of vehicles registered in the Russian Federation into the territory of Poland. September 20 about plans to take similar measures announced in Norway (the country is not a member of the EU, but is part of the Schengen area).
Most categorical German customs. “Goods whose import or movement is prohibited under embargo laws may be confiscated,” the agency told the Agency. The response emphasizes that we are talking about any items from the sanctions list that are imported from the Russian Federation or that are of Russian origin. “Checks at customs points aimed at compliance with the embargo are carried out with a risk-based approach,” noted a representative of German customs in comments RBC. The publication concludes that confiscation is possible in selected cases.
At the French Embassy in the Russian Federation, Izvestia newspaper reportedthat the country's authorities do not plan to introduce a ban on the entry into the territory of the republic of cars with Russian license plates.
Since a clearer decision has been made regarding cars, which was supported by some European countries mentioned in the text, the verdict has been changed to "Half-truth". The original version of the analysis before changes are made is available at link.
Correction dated September 7, 2023. Originally in this text it was saidthat in a Japanese study of the biodistribution of nanolipids, scientists used deuterium as a radioactive label (this is exactly what the experimental design is about told fact-checking project Health Feedback). In reality, deuterium is not radioactive, and in the tables accompanying the report, tritium is indicated as a label. This error probably crept into the text of Health Feedback during the translation of materials from Japanese into English, and then ended up in our analysis.
July 2023
Update July 28, 2023. Our colleagues from the Les Observateurs project of France 24 TV channel contacted with the editors of the tabloid TMZ and received the answer: “Obviously, someone posted this on social networks that are in no way associated with TMZ. We have nothing to do with this video." In addition, French fact checkers spoke with Joanne Colonna, Wood's manager, and she explained that "Elijah does not have an Instagram account" and that the actor "will comment on this video on his Twitter account." The Column did not specify the origin of the video, and Wood's tweet with an explanation had not appeared as of the time of this update.
Update July 12, 2023. The Verified editors discovered Telegram channels in which the video appeared earlier than in Putin TG Team. For example, in the channel “TalipoV 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 🅉” (59,000 views) the post was published June 29 at 11:12 Moscow time.
The list of major channels that posted the fake video is also not limited to those listed at the beginning of the analysis. This same video was also posted by “Sanya in Florida"(378,000), "Uncle Slava"(186,000), "Bullet" (158,000), "Scott Ritter on Telegram" (158,000), "What happened?" (127,000), "Ostashko! Important"(115,000), "Ivan Utenkov"(110,000), "Bocharik (yep, that same one)" (108,000) and "From the scene"(94,000).
Update dated July 10, 2023. A quote similar to the one attributed to Kolchak was common until the mid-2010s, but it was associated with another historical figure. So, in November 1999, the leader of the Chaif group Vladimir Shakhrin at a press conference in Kyiv stated: "More Old Man Makhno said: “Don’t touch musicians and prostitutes! They are needed under any government!”
The editors would like to thank “Verified” reader Kirill Poznyak for providing additional materials.
Update July 3, 2023. In a conversation with Verified, Edward Charlotte said that he learned about the quote attributed to him from his friends, and called the news “nonsense” created to disgrace him. “The fact is complete heresy. I flew to Armenia three weeks before I burned my passport, and did not stay at the airport a minute longer than expected,” the artist said in response to the editor’s letter, clarifying that he did not return to the Yerevan airport after that. As evidence, the singer also provided screenshots of a photo album on his phone indicating the dates when the pictures were taken.
May 2023
Update May 8, 2023: added a description of a study on the behavior of predators and their potential victims at a watering hole during a drought. You can read the previous version of the material at link.
April 2023
Updated April 15, 2023. The editors of “Verified” discovered Telegram channels in which the cover without a watermark appeared on April 12. Among them, the earliest publication was in the channel “Before everyone else. Well almost. Special Operation”, where the post received more than 11,000 views.
Update April 4, 2023: added examples of publications that tell the story of Pinocchio Sanchez in English and Italian, and clarified the corresponding fragment of the last paragraph. An argument has been added about the coincidence of the names of master Carlo Bestulgi and Papa Carlo - the “father” of Pinocchio in Tolstoy’s story. You can read the previous version of the material at link.
March 2023
Updated March 31, 2023. We made stylistic changes to the text, changed its composition, and also added a paragraph to the beginning describing the chronology of what happened.
February 2023
Corrections as of February 20, 2023:
1. Added a note regarding the need for more research on the use of various oils in the treatment of burns.
2. A more specific definition of flavonoids is given.
3. Added a note about the need for further high-quality research on the effectiveness of honey for the treatment of burns conducted by reputable scientific organizations.
4. Added clarification regarding the use of honey as first aid for burns.
5. Recommendations for treating I–II degree burns with moisturizing lotions have been removed.
6. Recommendations have been added to consult a doctor for I–II degree burns.
The previous version of the article can be read the link.
January 2023
Update dated January 23, 2023: After publishing the analysis, thanks to a tip from one of our readers, we found an even earlier case of the use of this quote in connection with the name of Chekhov. The phrase “If a person does not smoke or drink, it is necessary to check whether he is a bastard” pronounces (04:10) hero of the one-man show “Merry Cemetery"(director - Kirill Chernozemov, performer - People's Artist of Russia Igor Volkov) based on the works of Chekhov. Premiere of the play took place in 1991. It was probably there that this phrase was heard for the first time, but it was not taken from any Chekhov text, but was invented by the creators of the play.
December 2022
Correction as of December 29, 2022: The Verified editors have discovered Telegram channels in which covers appeared earlier than those indicated in the original version of this analysis (it can be found at link), and made appropriate changes to the text.
November 2022
Correction November 29, 2022: Initially, this text erroneously stated that the last special issue of Charlie Hebdo magazine at the time of writing was published in September 2020. The text of the analysis before making corrections is available at link.
Correction November 29, 2022: Initially, this text erroneously stated that the last special issue of Charlie Hebdo magazine at the time of writing was published in September 2020. The text of the analysis before making corrections is available at link.
Correction November 2, 2022: According to the original title publications, this analysis dealt specifically with the Pentagon and its involvement or non-involvement in the development of the drone. However, the Pentagon is not mentioned in Russian media publications about this patent. Vasily Nebenzya, speaking about the patent at a meeting of the UN Security Council, laid the blame on the United States as a whole, and not specifically on the American military department. Therefore, we have removed the reference to the Pentagon from the title of this analysis. And since the new headline is true — The US Patent and Trademark Office did grant such a patent, — the verdict was also changed from “False” to “True”. Despite this, the remaining arguments and conclusions presented in this analysis regarding the reality of introducing this invention into the US military arsenal still remain valid.
July 2022
Update July 25, 2022. July 21 took place second meeting of the International Committee for Health Emergencies. It again considered whether monkeypox should be designated as a public health emergency at the international level. Committee members noted that the risk is considered "moderate" globally and in all six WHO regions, with the exception of the European region, where it is considered "high." According to a press release, Committee members did not reach consensus on their recommendations to designate the monkeypox outbreak as a public health concern internationally (PHEIC). WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus thanked the Committee members for their views and decided that the monkeypox outbreak still constituted a public health emergency of international concern.
Update dated June 03, 2022: This material is dedicated to the analysis of statements related to a specific image that appeared on May 22 as a joke, but subsequently began to be used outside of a satirical context. At the same time, the organizers of the LGBT+ parade, which will be held in Dublin on June 25, really added The event flag has yellow and blue triangles. However, neither on the official Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride website nor in its social networks it is not explicitly stated that such a decision is related to support for Ukraine. This “updated” rainbow flag is still on April 29th. appeared in a post by Irish Government Member Roderick O'Gorman on Instagram; In his post, the minister talked about the types of assistance for LGBT refugees from Ukraine. However, in this case we are talking about the flag of one specific pride event, which will be held in Dublin, and not the flag of the entire LGBT community, as the authors of the statements we verified stated. In this regard, we maintain the verdict “Satirical News”, rendered based on the results of the analysis.
April 2022
Correction dated April 14, 2022 year: In the AR video, a resident of Bucha, appearing in the frame at 1:41, speaks in Ukrainian about how his friend was run over by an armored personnel carrier, but does not specify whether it is Russian or Ukrainian. When writing original text we relied on the transcript provided at website AR archive in English, which erroneously states that the armored personnel carrier was Russian: ““16. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Yuri (no last name given), Bucha resident: “He was a resident, he worked in landscaping. A peaceful honest person. A smart man who loved to work. And they simply, shamelessly, and in full knowledge, crushed him to death with a Russian APC (armoured personnel carrier)." Perhaps the AR reporter who did the transcript and translation came to the conclusion that the armored personnel carrier belonged to the Russian military based on the words of a resident of Bucha, which were not included in the video.
March 2022
Correction March 29, 2022: To avoid double interpretation of the verdict made following the audit, we have corrected the title of the material from “Is it true that we recently discovered a document that recorded a promise by Western countries not to expand NATO to the east?” to “Is it true that a recently discovered document records a promise by Western countries not to expand NATO eastward?” The text of the analysis before making corrections is available at link.
Correction March 14, 2022: The original publication erroneously stated that both photographs of Marianna Podgurskaya were taken by reporter Evgeniy Maloletka. In fact one of them belongs to another photographer, Mstislav Chernov. The text of the analysis before making corrections is available at link.
February 2022
Update February 28, 2022: We contacted a LiveJournal user who writes under the nickname fmidova. She could not remember where she first saw this quote, but she is sure that its author was Robert Sheckley.
November 2021
Update dated November 4, 2021: The primary source of the photo, apparently, was a rendering from a Russian company GeoScan, which deals with drones and, in particular, organizes shows with the participation of aircraft. On October 5, 2020, the company published on its Instagram photograph with drones arranged in the shape of a skull and the caption: “Different cultures require different ways to demonstrate their values, feelings and heritage. For example, Mexico will soon celebrate the Day of the Dead. <…>. Imagine what an amazing drone light show could look like at one of the celebration events!”
Two days later the company posted on his Instagram another photo dedicated to what a drone show might look like on the Mexican Day of the Dead. It was this that went viral on the Internet a year later.
June 2021
Updated August 27, 2021. The first DNA vaccine against coronavirus was approved for emergency use on August 20 in India. It's called ZyCov-D and is recommended for use by people over 12 years of age. Three doses are required to obtain full immunity. In addition to the innovative design of the vaccine, the method of its administration is also interesting - a skin patch with microneedles. However, for this vaccine, the risk of integration into DNA is three orders of magnitude lower than the risk of random mutations.
Update dated June 25, 2021: June 16 Rospotrebnadzor published a document signed the day before by the chief sanitary doctor of Moscow, Elena Andreeva, “On carrying out preventive vaccinations for certain groups of citizens according to epidemic indications.” According to it, it is necessary to ensure that at least 60% of workers in the areas of trade, services, public catering, multifunctional centers, education, healthcare and other industries listed in the document are vaccinated against COVID-19. A similar deployment following Moscow released Chief Sanitary Doctor for the Moscow Region Olga Mikailova. Later initiative supported another 46 regions.
April 2021
Update April 21, 2021: April 20, 2021 by Derek Chauvin found guilty in the manslaughter of George Floyd. According to CNN, the jury, after a lengthy deliberation, came to the conclusion that the cause of death was the actions of the former police officer, characterized as “criminal negligence.” Chauvin's sentence will be announced in the summer.
