Dear Friend,

In the newsletter this week...
But first...

Today is International Fact Checking Day and this week Full Fact launched a campaign called Facts Matter (#FactsMatter for the social media savvy amongst you). We’re doing this because recently being a fact checker has become a lot harder.
Find out more...
In January, Mark Zuckerberg said fact checkers were prone to bias (we refute this claim strongly) and ended their support for third-party fact checking in the United States.

The Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, then said that mis and disinformation are “ugly Soviet-era words” during a speech in Germany in February. 

We believe that facts matter. They matter because anyone (not just us) can look at a claim and check reliable information to confirm if it’s accurate or not. We’ve seen how misinformation can cause real-world problems just as recently as last summer in the wake of the tragedy in Southport. 

It can be hard to understand why someone would try to take advantage of a tragedy to spread false information, but when ‘big stories’ receive lots of attention we see just that, time and time again.

In these moments—with people’s lives and livelihoods on the—line facts matter the most.
Best wishes, 

Craig, Digital Campaigns Manager—Full Fact

P.S - Thank you for your continued support
FACT CHECKS

Adolescence and smartphones
The Netflix drama Adolescence has provoked a national debate around the role smartphone use plays in young people accessing potentially harmful content online. 

One area of focus has been the use of phones in the classroom, with the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer and the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, appearing to disagree about the number of schools banning mobile phones at Prime Minister’s Questions last week.

In our latest explainer, we’ve taken a look at the available data.
Read more

Who’s that Pokemon?
It's not Pikachu if you were wondering. A picture of the Pokemon character Pikachu running away from the police at the recent protests in Turkey alongside Batman, Spiderman and the Joker was actually generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

Although there is genuine footage of someone dressed up as Pikachu at the protests circulating on social media, this image being shared isn’t authentic.
Read more
Support Full Fact
 
As a registered charity, Full Fact relies on the public to support our independent, impartial fact checking and advocacy work. Monthly donations help challenge harmful misinformation from politicians, in the media, and online.

Please support Full Fact with a monthly gift of £10 
 

A widely circulated meme uses a stock image and makes false claims
A picture of someone apparently called ‘Khalil’, who arrived in the UK by boat, is being circulated online with a claim that he is suing the UK government to meet the housing needs of his “rapidly expanding family”.

It’s a stock image, which is often produced and sold to companies or ad agencies for use in marketing or for the public at large. 

The photo is of a family taken in Malaysia in 2016 and we can find no record of ‘Khalil’ or the court case the meme refers to.
Read more

Government tracker

Full Fact’s most recent updates to our tracker of government policy.
Discover our Government tracker
Also this week...
Read our latest fact checks
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All the best,
Team Full Fact

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