A false video of the Wellega Massacre
A Facebook page with more than 196 thousand followers shared a 13-minute and 5-second video on Jun 21, 2022, captioned, “this video shows the massacre in west Wollega”. By the time this article is published the video had more than 83 thousand views and the post was shared more than a thousand times.
HaqCheck inspected the video and found out that the video was first shared on Jul 23, 2021, on a Facebook Account. The video is captioned, “WBO [OLA] is freeing prisoners, Thousands of WBO commandos are marching to 4killo.”. The post had more than 400 views.
Therefore HaqCheck counterchecked the post and rendered it False.
TPLF hijacked a plane
A YouTube video premiered on July 23 having a thumbnail and title that reads “TPLF hijacked a plane”. Over two thousand viewers have watched the video so far.
HaqCheck looked into the full content of the video and confirmed that the actual content doesn’t state that TPLF recently hijacked a plane. The video tells that TPLF denied landing a plane in Mekelle. Therefore, the video is rated MISLEADING.
On June 23, 2022, the Ethiopian government accused TPLF of blocking humanitarian aid flights to Mekelle Airport, Tigray.
TPLF, responding to the accusation, stated that the airport has ceased operation due to the absence of fuel to run the facility.
In this context, a video captioned and titled that TPLF hijacked a plane emerged. However, the video explains that TPLF blocked humanitarian aid flights to Mekelle. There is no connection between the thumbnail and title of the video and its actual content.
Therefore, HaqCheck rendered the video MISLEADING due to the absence of relevance between the thumbnail/title and the content.
A manipulated Image
A manipulated image of Amleset Muchie, wife of the pop sensation Tewodros Kassahun was shared on Twitter. The manipulated image shows the Amleset kissing a Kalashnikov rifle.
HaqCheck fact-checked the image and confirmed that the picture was manipulated. The original image was taken from a Facebook page in the name of Amleset Muche and depicts Amleset holding and kissing an arm of a child.
Report on a claimed death of an artist
There was a report on Facebook claiming that Solomon Bogale, an artist died of an illness. The claim stated that the artist was abroad for medical treatment but died within 24 hours of his return back to Addis Ababa.
However, HaqCheck inquired into the claim and confirmed the information was false.
Recommendations
HaqCheck urges social media users to be cautious and cross-check information. They should refrain from sharing unconfirmed information immediately.
We recommend social media content creators be responsible and refrain from fabricating and circulating false claims and misleading statements.
YouTubers are urged to be accurate in reporting and should avoid misleading thumbnails and titles in order to grab people’s attention. YouTube videos with false and misleading titles and thumbnails have been trending recently.
