We take a look back at our most read fact checks of 2023
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Dear Friend,
This has been a bumper year for Full Fact. We’ve seen our supporters take over 45,000 actions to hold those in power to account and campaign for change.
We said goodbye to our founding CEO Will Moy and greeted our new CEO Chris Morris who brings decades of experience as a journalist at the BBC to the role.
We’ve won important victories that allow MPs to correct the record when they say something wrong in Parliament and secured amendments to the Online Safety Bill (now Act) which will compel Ofcom to provide digital literacy training.
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In late December we closed out the year by raising £60,000 in match funding as part of the Big Give Christmas Challenge, more than doubling our total from last year.
None of this would have happened without the small army of donors and supporters who turn our fact checking work into tangible change. From all of us here at Full Fact, thank you. We look forward to what next year brings.
Best wishes,
Craig, Digital Campaigns Manager—Full Fact
🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨
** Prime Minister issues correction about the size of Scotland's oil and gas industry ([link removed])
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The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak MP has corrected the official record after he claimed 200,000 people were employed in Scotland's oil and gas industry following an intervention by Full Fact. This number actually reflects the total number of people employed in the industry across the United Kingdom.
A 'letter of correction' has been submitted and is now officially recorded in Hansard (the official record of debate in parliament).
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🎄 MOST READ FACT CHECKS 2023 🎄
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** McDonald’s french fries are not made from potatoes treated with the pesticide Monitor ([link removed])
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In May we looked into claims circulating online that a pesticide called Monitor is used to grow potatoes for McDonald’s french fries. The pesticide has been used over a decade ago but has not been approved for use in the UK or EU since 2008, and the United States since 2009.
We reached out to McDonald’s USA and they confirmed that Monitor has not been used on their potatoes for a number of years.
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** Video showing President Biden distracted by ice-cream van has been edited ([link removed])
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In March a video showing President Biden getting distracted and walking after an ice-cream van during a speech by Dr Jill Biden received hundreds of thousands of likes on Instagram.
The scene was not genuine and the video had been edited to include an ice-cream van moving across the background supposedly playing its traditional music.
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** Lucy Letby is not in hospital after prison attack ([link removed])
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In August we noticed a number of online viral posts this year falsely claiming that high profile prisoners have been attacked or killed. In August multiple posts with the same text began to circulate on Facebook claiming Lucy Letby was in hospital after a prison attack.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed the claims in the Facebook posts were untrue. It has been reported that Letby is likely to spend her sentence in high security prison HMP Low Newton outside Durham.
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** The average junior doctor gets paid more than £14 an hour ([link removed])
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In March, as junior doctors took industrial action, the British Medical Association (BMA) claimed that “Pret a Manger has announced it will pay up to £14.10 per hour. A junior doctor makes just £14.09.”
It is true that some baristas at Pret a Manger can earn up to £14.10 per hour (including a performance-related bonus). However the figure for “a junior doctor” is potentially misleading, if it is taken to mean the typical pay for the average junior doctor.
In fact, it represents the hourly basic pay for the lowest-ranked doctors, who make up about 11% of junior doctors in general.
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** All speed cameras on the M1 and M25 are not about to ‘go live’ enforcing a 72 mph limit ([link removed])
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In November we fact checked several viral posts on Facebook claiming that at midnight speed cameras on the M1 and M25 would begin enforcing a 72 mph speed limit and automatically sending tickets to motorists exceeding the limit.
This was false, and multiple police forces confirmed there would be no changes to speed enforcement on their sections of these motorways.
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🎁 JOB OPPORTUNITY 🎁
** Senior News and Online Journalist ([link removed])
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Salary: £36,700 - £43,785
Location: Remote, regular meetings in London
Closing Date: 10am, Tuesday 2nd January
Contract: Full Time, open to discussing flexible working
You’ll be one of the fact checkers who are the backbone of our editorial team—working in a team of four focusing on online misinformation and breaking news. You’ll be responsible for spotting, exposing and tackling bad information, writing a number of fact checks each week, and also writing features and other content as required.
We’re looking for candidates with proven journalism experience and a strong understanding of what we do, but prior fact checking experience isn’t necessary. You will need to be able to quickly master and explain tricky, nuanced topics in clear, concise copy—and must have an eye for a story.
Apply online ([link removed])
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MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
* BBC reporter Jeremy Bowen has not been removed from Gaza ([link removed])
* Video of vehicle driving ‘through crowd of Palestine protesters’ actually from 2020 Black Lives Matter march ([link removed])
* Road sign in Yorkshire does not have Arabic translations ([link removed])
* Being an immigrant doesn’t entitle you to get more money from the state than a pensioner ([link removed])
Read our latest fact checks ([link removed])
Stop the spread of bad information
Find these updates useful? We'd be incredibly grateful if you could share our fact checks and help more people access good information.
All the best,
Team Full Fact
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