Dear Friend,

In the newsletter this week But first...
The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, says he will stop funding mRNA vaccine research because these vaccines “fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections”. 

That’s not right.

mRNA Covid vaccines do reduce serious illness and deaths. There isn’t an approved mRNA flu vaccine yet, but a recent trial beat standard flu jabs. 
Help stop the spread of bad info - share this article:
Read more vaccine claims
Best wishes, 

Craig
Audience Engagement Manager,
Full Fact

Fact checks

No, this isn’t real war footage

We’ve tested screenshots from viral clips using Google Lens. In more than ten cases, the AI overview either repeated the wrong caption or gave different answers for the same image. 

Like a beach in Goa mislabelled as Dover, a video game scene treated as real combat, and a Heathrow take-off described as the June Air India crash.

Lens can help you start to verify a claim, but you shouldn’t trust its AI overview verdict.

What Ukrainian territory does Russia control?

With President Zelenskyy meeting leaders in Washington DC this week, after President Trump’s summit with President Putin last week, reports say Russia is pushing for Ukraine to give up the Donbas. 

Here’s our explainer on who controls what right now.

Image courtesy of Sharon Drummond

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 

Donate £10
Remind me next week

No, banks won't be reporting £420 withdrawals to the government

Widely viewed posts on social media claim that, from September, banks will have to flag cash withdrawals over £420 to the UK’s anti-fraud unit. 

There’s no evidence this is true.

Government Tracker

Full Fact’s most recent updates to our tracker of government policy.

Tuesday 19 August

In progressIs the government on course to introduce a new Race Equality Act?

Monday 18 August

Appears off trackIs the government on track to restore development spending to 0.7% of national income?

Friday 15 August

In progressIs the government on course to secure ‘the highest sustained growth in the G7’?

Also this week...

How likely are you to recommend that a friend, family member or colleague subscribe to receive emails from Full Fact?
0 = Not at all likely  |  10 = Extremely likely

If you want more facts you can find us on

Reddit Reddit
TikTok TikTok
Instagram Instagram
Facebook Facebook

Have questions or feedback?
Contact us

How we’re funded?
© 2025 Full Fact – All rights reserved

Our mailing address:

Full Fact
17 Oval Way
London, London SE11 5RR
United Kingdom

Add us to your address book

We use Mailchimp to send our emails and track popularity.
Full Fact’s privacy policy | Mailchimp’s privacy policy

Unsubscribe | Update your email