The daily check-in

Trending, checked.

Twice a day we pull the posts going viral on TikTok, Instagram, X and Facebook and run them through the record. Each entry is a published verdict — what we found, why, and the sources behind it.

241 checks

Is Zelensky's 'Gestapo' shooting at protesters over torture black sites?

X · 31K likes, 413 replies on X (syndication, 4 Nov); picked up by Skwawkbox 3 Nov

Misleading

The clip appears to be genuine night footage from real clashes near Kyiv on 2 November 2026, but the caption is misleading: independent reporting says police fired warning shots into the air and used tear gas, and Ukrainian authorities called the 'torture chamber' and death reports fake, while a Russian propaganda push framed the incident as a nationwide Gestapo-style torture system.

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Did Russia's Lavrov say India is "a trading partner, nothing more"?

X · 455 likes on primary; Russian Embassy reply ("Please stop copying silly AI fakes") 3.1K likes; MEA FactCheck "Fake Alert" 8.1K likes; covered by Organiser, BOOM, Factly, The Quint, Newschecker

False

The video is a deepfake: real footage of Sergey Lavrov from a 30 October 2026 press conference with AI-generated audio and re-synced lips putting words about India in his mouth. Fact-checkers, India's MEA and the Russian Embassy confirmed Lavrov never made the remarks.

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Did the Iranian Navy blow up an Indian Navy ship and kill 13 personnel?

X · 243 likes, 63 replies on X (syndication, 4 Nov); Newschecker fact-check 4 Nov; MEA statement on the attack on merchant vessel MSV Al Jusufi off Oman

False

The video is real footage of a burning Indian-flagged cargo dhow, but the caption is false: MSV Al Jusufi was a commercial vessel hit by an unidentified aerial object off Oman on 2 November 2026, one sailor died and 13 were rescued — not 13 Navy personnel killed by the Iranian Navy.

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Did Iran put up a billboard in Tehran reading 'We will kill Trump'?

X · X post 1,381 likes, 52 replies with image (verify 2026-11-04); IBTimes UK headline 'Tehran Unveils We Will Kill Trump Billboard' 3 Nov

True

The photograph is genuine: Iran did unveil a giant billboard over Tehran's Enghelab Square on 3 November 2026 reading "We will kill Trump" with Trump depicted behind bars, as reported by AFP and many international outlets. The post's core claim is accurate, though its "terrorists occupying Iran" wording is advocacy framing rather than neutral description.

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Is Iranian state TV broadcasting nuclear-blast survival instructions to prepare for an attack?

X · X post 160 likes with video (verify 2026-11-04); covered by IBTimes UK and Metro ('Iranian TV broadcasts advice on a nuclear strike') 3 Nov

Misleading

The clip is an AI-generated Persian-language awareness video, first posted on a private Instagram account on 21 October 2026, that is being passed off as an Iranian state television broadcast. Iranian state media did separately publish a genuine eight-minute nuclear-survival civil-defence guide on 29 October 2026, so the underlying story is real but the footage in this post is not.

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Was Tehran's oil refinery just bombed, as this video claims?

X · Primary 744 likes/38 replies (X syndication, 4 Nov); repost by @QanatSadaQDSIQ ('more than 100 US planes targeting Iran now') 425 likes, @Alomari67 254 likes; Misbar fact-check 3 Nov

Misleading

The video is real fire footage but far older than claimed: a fact-check by Misbar traced the same clip to the Shahran oil depot blaze in Tehran on 14/15 June 2025, and no bombing of Tehran's refineries took place around 2-3 November 2026 — the only documented US action then was limited strikes near Qeshm Island and the Strait of Hormuz.

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Did the Emergency Broadcast System really go off in the US with a nuclear attack warning?

X · Primary 78 likes (X syndication, 4 Nov), copy-paste reposts across QAnon-style accounts; earlier @BackChannelQ post (2 Nov) now deleted; Misbar fact-check 3 Nov says clip is a 2022 YouTube simulation · resurfaced

False

The video is a handheld recording of a home TV playing a 2022 YouTube 'mock scenario' of a US nuclear-attack emergency alert, republished without its fiction disclaimer as if a real EBS activation had occurred. No such alert was ever issued — FEMA has denied it and multiple fact-checkers have rated the claim false.

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Did a crowd really surround an ambulance in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka and demand a masked man show his face?

Facebook · Widely covered 2-3 Nov (Kyiv Independent, Ukrainska Pravda '40 fake hostages', Novynarnia, RBC, 24tv live stream with Budanov on site); police called the 40-hostage report false; Budanov cited 'outside influence'

True But

Genuine on-scene footage from the 2 November 2026 confrontation in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka near Kyiv, where a crowd surrounded an ambulance and demanded a masked man show his face. The scene is accurately described and corroborated by BBC Ukrainian, Kyiv Post, RFE/RL, Babel, Hlavkom and Gordon, although the '40 hostages' allegations that drew the crowd were rejected by police and the National Guard.

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Are crowds at Hamad International Airport proof that foreigners are fleeing Qatar en masse?

X · @hodannat55 2,210 likes; @Machhad517 301 likes ('mass flight for fear of nuclear'); Misbar EN+AR fact-checks 3 Nov · resurfaced

Misleading

The video is genuine passenger-shot footage from Hamad International Airport, but it dates from 28 February 2026, when Qatari airspace was closed after US–Israeli strikes on Iran — not from a current mass exodus. Misbar's fact-check and Qatar Airways' statement that the 2 November 2026 activity was an emergency drill with normal flight operations make the 'live mass escape' framing misleading.

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Did Trump announce the US is ending $4 billion in annual aid to Israel by the end of the year?

X · 1,065 likes within ~45 min; Google Trends US 'trump israel' 500+; Bluesky trending 'Trump calls Israel a helper'; Reuters, CNN, Bloomberg, NY Post, Newsweek, HuffPost, Ynet all reporting

True But

The video is genuine Fox News election-day broadcast footage of President Trump telling Fox & Friends that the U.S. will end roughly $4 billion in annual aid to Israel by year's end, which Reuters and multiple other outlets reported the same day. The announcement and its dollar figure check out, but Trump's claim of a completed, months-old agreement with Netanyahu is unconfirmed and at odds with the aid pact that runs to 2028.

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Is this video of chaotic crowds at Dubai Airport leaving because of a feared Iranian drone attack?

X · @iamKanha78 140 likes (syndication); Arabic copies @saadalsaedy77 55 likes, @banin97ahwaz 9 likes; Misbar fact-check 3 Nov · resurfaced

False

The clip of crowded Dubai Airport terminal halls is genuine but not new: two independent fact-checkers traced the same footage to 1 March 2026, when Iranian retaliation forced mass flight cancellations, so the 'Dubai Airport Now' framing and the claim of a fresh exodus driven by fears of another Iranian drone attack are false.

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Is the US mediating Ukraine–Russia talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10–11?

X · 2,746 likes; embedded by Spiegel, Figaro, NOS, ZDF

True

Steve Witkoff's official account did announce that the US will mediate Ukraine–Russia working-level talks in Abu Dhabi on 10–11 November 2026, and the announcement is corroborated by Reuters, AFP, Der Spiegel and other outlets. The post is a genuine, accurate scheduling announcement; the talks themselves have not yet taken place.

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Did Russian aerial bombs hit a school used for humanitarian aid in Komyshuvakha?

X · 11,030 likes; embedded by Onet, Welt, Bild, tvn24, 20minutos, BFM; toll reported 18 -> 24 -> 26

True But

The video is genuine State Emergency Service of Ukraine footage of the aftermath of the 2 November 2026 Russian glide-bomb strikes on Komyshuvakha in Zaporizhzhia region, and Zelenskyy's caption is corroborated by BBC, Reuters, AP/Al Jazeera, Anadolu and Ukrainian outlets. The core facts hold; the death toll was later revised upward and the claim that Russia deliberately targeted civilians rests on Ukrainian assertions that Moscow has not answered.

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Did Iran's IRGC ground and seize two American MQM-170 drones over Qeshm?

X · IRGC claim carried by Al Jazeera, Sabq, MTV Lebanon and others; same night as reported US strike on Qeshm; no CENTCOM comment yet

Can't Verify

The post correctly reports an IRGC announcement: on 2 November 2026 the IRGC said its electronic warfare systems grounded and captured two US MQM-170 drones south of Qeshm Island, bringing its claimed total to four. The attribution is accurate, but the underlying claim is unverified and was rejected by US Central Command, which the post does not mention.

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Did the Oleshky ceasefire end with nearly 800 people evacuated?

X · 9,471 likes, 531 replies (X syndication, 2 Nov); Kyiv Independent, Ukrainska Pravda, Meduza note Kyiv and Moscow withhold figures

True But

Melania Trump's post accurately announces the end of the Oleshky humanitarian ceasefire and the delivery of aid, though the 'nearly 800 evacuees' figure is her own and neither Ukraine nor Russia has published official numbers.

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Did Iran test a two-stage ICBM called "Rastakhiz" in this video?

X · Shared by several X accounts and Facebook reels in English and Arabic; 101 likes on primary (X syndication, 2 Nov)

Misleading

The video is real but mislabelled: it shows SpaceX's Starship lifting off from Texas on 18 November 2023, filmed by spectators at Playa Bagdad in Mexico, not an Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile test. The caption's 'Rastakhiz' ICBM details are unverified at best and contradicted by published reporting on the claimed weapon.

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Were over 500 missiles fired at Iran with major fires across Tehran?

X · 1,239 likes, 69 replies on the primary; Arabic reposts (X syndication, 2 Nov)

False

The video is real but unrelated footage: it shows the 1 June 2026 fireworks-factory explosion in Malta, not missiles hitting Iran. No 500-missile strike on Tehran or major fires across the city had occurred as of 2 November 2026.

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Is the US about to launch a nuclear strike on Iran's Pickaxe Mountain?

X · 294,500 likes, 20,110 replies (X syndication, 2 Nov ~15:30 UTC); Bluesky trending topic; amplified by MTG, Hunter Biden, Ryan Grim; Daily Beast, Premium Times, Raw Story

Misleading

Tucker Carlson's post is his own unevidenced speculation: he asserts an imminent US nuclear strike on Iran built on anonymous sources, even though Trump had publicly ruled out nuclear use nine days earlier and the strike options actually under discussion are conventional bunker-busters.

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Did the Houthis capture weapons just delivered to government forces in Marib?

X · Shared by pro-Houthi and Southern (STC) accounts; Misbar and CNN Arabic both covered it on 1 Nov

Misleading

The video is genuine Houthi Military Media footage, but it dates from September 2019 and shows the 'Victory from God' operation on the Najran axis — not weapons recently delivered to government forces in Marib and captured the next morning. Three independent verification desks (CNN Arabic, Misbar and Yemen Daily News) have debunked the exact clip as old footage recycled into the October 2026 Marib fighting.

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Did Russian forces suffer record losses in October 2026, with a big share in the Azov Corps' sector?

X · 8,668 likes, 696 replies (X syndication); picked up by Ukrainska Pravda, Radio Svoboda, RMF24 and Kyiv Independent

True But

Ukraine's General Staff reported that Russian personnel losses in October 2026 reached 54,400 killed, wounded and missing — the highest monthly total since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, surpassing the 48,670 recorded in December 2024. President Volodymyr Zelensky repeated the record claim and said Ukrainian forces recaptured more territory than Russia seized during the month. The National Guard's 1st Azov Corps, operating in the Dobropillia sector of Donetsk Oblast, reported roughly 6,843 Russian troops killed, wounded or captured in its own area of responsibility; all figures are Ukrainian military estimates and are not independently audited.

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Was Pakistan's ambassador to Iran attacked at a meeting in Tehran?

X · At least 7 accounts posted it within about 5 hours (Misbar). English copy from @eaglepos: 687 likes (X syndication). Pakistan's embassy in Tehran issued a formal denial, reported by Dawn

False

A real but unrelated clip — the 29 October 2026 mass brawl in Armenia's National Assembly — is being passed off as an attack on Pakistan's ambassador in Tehran, an attack Pakistan's embassy in Tehran has explicitly and categorically denied.

PoliticsConflictView details→

Did Russian forces suffer record losses in October 2026, with a big share in the Azov Corps' sector?

X · Kyiv Independent 1 Nov: General Staff figure 54,400 (8,170 more than September); Zelensky called it 'a record for any month' and said Ukraine retook 96.2 km2 vs 85.8 km2 lost; azov_media post 332 likes

True But

The video is genuine Azov drone-strike footage packaged with the corps' own October statistics, and its headline claim checks out: Ukraine's General Staff reported 54,400 Russian casualties in October 2026, the highest monthly total of the full-scale war, and the Azov corps' 5,017 killed / 1,820 wounded / 6 captured breakdown was carried by Ukrainian outlets including the Kyiv Independent. The main caveat is that every figure is a self-reported Ukrainian military tally that no independent body can verify.

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Does this video show US and Gulf money seized by Iran's Revolutionary Guard?

X · Primary 768 likes / 52 replies (X syndication, 1 Nov); Turkish versions ('SON DAKIKA ... Mossad terror cell') from 29 Oct with low engagement; Misbar EN+AR debunk 1 Nov

Misleading

The footage is genuine but recycled: the same clip has circulated since January 2020 and was published by Pajhwok Afghan News in February 2020 as a 'dollar warehouse' apparently filmed in Afghanistan, so the caption's claim that it shows US and Gulf money seized by Iran's Revolutionary Guard is misleading.

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Are US B-2 bombers heading toward Iran right now?

X · Primary post 5,561 likes / 529 replies (X syndication, 1 Nov); identical copies in English and Arabic from @IsraelNewsHQ (1,349 likes), @MrImranPk (2,050 likes), @SaudiArabitcr4 (712 likes); Misbar debunk 1 Nov

False

The video is real but recycled: it shows the B-2 flyover at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska on 15 August 2025 during the Trump-Putin summit, not bombers heading for Iran in November 2026. The caption's claim of an imminent attack, and the 'nuclear war' framing, are false.

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