AAP FactCheck Articles

Fake Che Guevara image depicts student guerilla theatre

Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara was a prominent communist figure in the 1956 -1959 Cuban Revolution who acted as an executioner (or ordered the execution) of suspected traitors and deserters.

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Immigration quote attributed to Prime Minister Barton is by US President Theodore Roosevelt

Edmund Barton was Australian prime minister from federation in 1901 until he resigned in 1903 to become a High Court judge, a position he held until his death in 1920. During his term as prime minister Sir Edmund also served as External Affairs Minister, responsible for foreign policy and immigration.

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Sydney Roosters rugby league club is not the world’s second most valuable sports team

American business magazine Forbes publishes an annual list of the world’s top 50 most valuable sports teams based on profits before “earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization”. It published its latest list on July 22, 2019.

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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews did not say mosque protesters had "no right" to demonstrate

There have been several public protests against Bendigo’s Islamic Community Centre since a permit was approved in June 2014, including a mock beheading outside Bendigo council offices by Blair Cottrell, Neil Erikson and Christopher Neil Shortis. They were subsequently convicted of inciting serious contempt towards Muslims and each fined $2,000.

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Label showing halal logo on canned pork is fake

The Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) states it is the only central Islamic body that holds key representation from Australian-based Muslim clerics in all States and Territories, with 200 registered Imams country-wide.

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Alan Jones did not conduct poll on children learning Arabic numbers in school

The radio 2GB website claims Alan Jones is “Australia’s most popular talkback presenter”. “Alan Jones is a phenomenon,” it states. “He’s described by many as the nation’s greatest orator and motivational speaker. Alan has the mind and capacity to make complex issues understandable to the largest Breakfast audience in Australia.” The second 2019 radio survey results showed Alan Jones remained at the top of the Sydney AM breakfast market.

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There's no visible difference between bananas ripened chemically or naturally

The Australian Banana Growers’ Council (ABGC), the national peak industry body for Australia’s commercial banana growers, told AAP FactCheck “the chemical ripening process is essentially the same as the natural ripening process, just in a more controlled environment” and that both were triggered by the same hormone, ethylene gas.

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Ned Kelly post depicts German communist philosopher Friedrich Engels

According to the National Museum of Australia (NMA) Ned Kelly was a bushranger who was born around 1855 the eldest son of eight children to Irish parents. His father John was a convict who’d been transported to Australia for stealing pigs and his mother Ellen was a migrant.

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Australian taxpayers don't fund children's terrorism or jihad lessons

Revive Australia’s post contains a link to a story with the same headline from a website called The Politics Online, which publishes news-style posts, many of which are critical of Islam.

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Innisfail in north Queensland is not an “agent orange town”

AAP FactCheck found the photo which accompanies the post was taken in Vietnam in 1962, not in Innisfail, Northern Queensland in 1966. It shows a United States Air Force Fairchild UC-123B Provider transport aircraft spraying defoliant in South Vietnam in 1962 during Operation Ranch Hand. The image was sourced to a 1984 book by Dana Bell titled, “Air War over Vietnam”, Volume IV.

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Bulldog urinating on Yassmin Abdel-Magied mural is fake

AAP FactCheck found the image posted by The Voice of Australia was a doctored version of Mr Rudd’s original mural.

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Are there 462,000 unemployed people in Australia?

“There’s 462,000 people that are unemployed in Australia and a lot more that are underemployed and looking for more work.” One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson. July 22, 2019

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Do 45 per cent of year six students not know where bananas, cheese and bread come from?

"Seventy-five per cent of grade six students believed cotton socks came from an animal and 45 per cent believed bananas, bread and cheese didn’t come from farming.” Scott Morrison, Prime Minister. July 18, 2019.

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NZ PM Jacinda Ardern never said Jews should “be wiped off the map”

AAP FactCheck found no reference to any comment about hating Jews or advocating for their annihilation made by Prime Minister Ardern and found no evidence the New Zealand leader had ever said the quoted phrase posted on Facebook.

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Swiss football brawl footage used to create fake UK Muslim riot video

The video was posted by Daniel Nalliah who is listed as the founder and national president of the Rise Up Australia Party which states on its site that Mr Nalliah is a “major voice against Multiculturalism and the Islamisation of the West”.

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Feeding sugar water to bees will kill them

AAP FactCheck found Sir David Attenborough does not have any verified social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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Post falsely claims youths arrested for just stealing chips

AAP FactCheck contacted Victoria Police, which confirmed police were called to Russell Street in Melbourne on May 31, 2019 around 10pm.

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No proof quote was made by Martin Luther King Jr

The quote has been shared widely on social media, including by Academy award-winning Australian actress Nicole Kidman, whose Facebook page has over 10.5 million likes. She shared the same quote to mark Martin Luther King Day in January, 2019. That post received over 4,200 reactions and was shared over 430 times.

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Dingo and shark on the beach with mating snakes pic is fake

AAP FactCheck examined the image and found it dated back to at least October 16, 2011 where it appeared on the photo sharing site Imgur. The source of the Imgur post links it to the same photo uploaded on Reddit by user u/BeefPieSoup on the same day.

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Venomous snake diagram claims are false

Pupils and pits on snakes both serve practical purposes unrelated to whether or not a snake is venomous. Elliptical pupils tend to be a trait of nocturnal snakes, while snakes active during the day have round pupils, according to an article on identifying venomous snakes published by McGill University in Canada.

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