Conspiracy theorists falsely claimed the Prime Minister's live coronavirus address was actually “pre-recorded”
At 8pm on Monday, Boris Johnson delivered a live address from Downing Street, in which he announced an England-wide lockdown.
We’ve seen several Facebook users claim it was not broadcast live, but actually “pre-recorded” many hours earlier—citing the Prime Minister’s watch as evidence. These posts were shared at least 1,500 times.
This seems to stem from confusion about the fact that Mr Johnson’s watch appears upside down to the viewer, as he is wearing it the right way up on his left hand.
Last year we worked hard to fight an avalanche of bad information about the coronavirus, vaccines, 5G technology, poverty and Brexit.
Amid fresh lockdowns and vast roll-outs of coronavirus vaccines to the public in the coming months, independent fact checking will be critical to keeping people safe.
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Last month, the Mail on Sunday reported that 27% of people who voted Conservative at the last general election would not vote for the party at the next election because of their anger about cycle lanes.
The story was based on the results of a survey by campaign group Fair Fuel UK. However, there are a number of problems with this finding.
For a start, respondents were not actually asked why they said they would not vote Conservative (including whether it was related to cycle lanes). This means there isn’t enough information to draw the conclusion that the Mail on Sunday did.
The survey was also only available via the Fair Fuel UK website, raising questions over the sample of people polled. It’s likely that those who are subscribed to the organisation’s mailing list or frequently use its website would be over-represented in this sample.
A series of posts on social media have highlighted news footage of the first coronavirus vaccinations. Immediately after the vaccine is administered, it appears to the naked eye as if the needle has disappeared.
Some have suggested that this is evidence that these patients did not in fact receive a vaccine. This is untrue.
This footage, which appeared on BBC News, was taken at Backus Hospital in Connecticut, USA.
The syringes used appear to have retractable needles, which are designed to reduce exposure to potentially contaminated needles—as well as the risk of injury.
This technology uses a spring within the syringe. When the vaccination dose is fully administered, the spring automatically retracts the needle down into the barrel of the syringe.
It is not proof that footage of people receiving a vaccine has been “faked”.
