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AFP
7 hours ago
- Politics
- AFP
Video shows protest in Kenya, not a demonstration against Togolese president
'This is Togo right now. Citizens protesting as the Togolese President Faure changes the constitution to make him president for life, where citizens will no longer participate in voting for the president,' reads the caption of a Facebook video shared more than 690 times since it was published on June 28, 2025. The video attached to the post shows a crowd marching on a highway with loud noises in the background and smoke rising from items burning on the road. Image Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on July 16, 2025 The video has also appeared elsewhere in posts shared on Instagram and a Facebook account belonging to a media organisation in Nigeria. AFP Fact Check has previously debunked the claim in French. In June, several protests, which were violently repressed by the police, shook the streets of Lome, the Togolese capital, resulting in the deaths of at least seven people (archived here). Citizens protested the arrest of government critics, rising electricity prices and constitutional reform that moved the country to a parliamentary system of government where President Faure Gnassingbe occupies the highest office (archived here). The opposition argues that the reform will allow the president to remain in power indefinitely. Swahili audio Some comments under the post talk about the need for a change in Africa's leadership structure, a sign that people believe the claim. However, others mention that the video was filmed in Kenya, not Togo. An AFP fact-checker based in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, confirmed that some of the words heard in the video were in Swahili, a language spoken in East and Central African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Unlike English and French, Swahili is hardly spoken in West Africa, where Togo is located. For example, the words 'wana retaliate' are heard in the 16th second of the video. 'Wana' in Swahili means 'in the process of'. Further evidence reveals the video does not show demonstrations in Togo. Kenyan protests A reverse image search was conducted on keyframes from the video using Google Lens. Among the search results was a YouTube link to the same footage, which was posted on June 28, 2025, without a caption (archived here). The YouTube video includes a watermark for a TikTok account called '@makofonyo3', where the original video was posted three days earlier (archived here). Again, it contained no details of what the clip depicted. However, a similar video from the same account was also shared on June 25, 2025, showing crowds marching along the four-lane highway, except this time a large road sign is visible, giving an indication of where it was filmed (archived here). Image Screenshot showing the highway sign seen in the video taken on July 17, 2025 Some of the words written on the gantry sign include directions for 'Nairobi', 'Kamiti Road', an urban road in Nairobi, 'Garden City', a shopping centre located along Thika Road, a major highway, also called A2, and 'Mombasa', a coastal city in Kenya. The highway sign was geolocated to Thika Road in Nairobi using Google Earth (archived here). Image Screenshot showing the highway sign seen in the video and satellite imagery on Google Earth, taken on July 17, 2025 AFP Fact Check matched various landmarks on Thika Road, like buildings and bridges, to both the video in the false posts and imagery from Google Earth. Image Screenshots matching features seen in the video (top) to satellite imagery on Google Earth, taken on July 17, 2025 Furthermore, by expanding the view on Google Earth, we established that the video falsely linked to Togo was filmed from alongside the gantry on Thika Road during protests in June 2025 (archived here). Kenyan protests On June 25, protesters took to the streets of Nairobi, Mombasa, and other counties across the country to mark the first anniversary of the deaths of 60 people killed when thousands of youths stormed the parliamentary chamber in 2024, demanding Ruto's resignation. The anniversary marches were violently repressed by the police and rekindled anti-government protests (archived here). Several Kenyan media outlets mentioned Thika Road in their reporting, including Citizen TV Kenya (archived here). The Daily Nation published photos in which the four-lane highway can be seen several times (archived link here). Image Screenshot showing an image of Thika Road published by The Daily Nation in Kenya, taken on July 21, 2025 Following the incident, the Kenyan government said it 'thwarted a coup d'etat' and denounced 'terrorism disguised as protest' (archived here). Since then, Ruto has continued to warn those who would 'overthrow' the government. The United Nations and other human rights groups have criticised the violence witnessed during the latest protests (archived here). Ruto, who was elected in 2022 after campaigning on behalf of the poorest, has faced significant opposition to his economic policies since 2024.
AFP
8 hours ago
- Politics
- AFP
Doctored image falsely linked to Tanzanian treason case
Tanzania's opposition leader Tundu Lissu is facing treason charges just months before scheduled general elections in October. During Lissu's July 1, 2025, trial, social media users shared a photo purportedly showing President Samia Suluhu Hassan following the televised court proceedings. But this is false; the image is an altered version of a photo of Hassan watching the presentation of the national budget in 2024. 'President Samia and other leaders following the progress of the 'Treason' case facing Chadema Chairman, Tundu Lissu,' reads an Instagram post published on July 1, 2025. 'Among other things, Lissu has provided a legal class to the Attorneys of the Republic by citing articles showing how they violated his fundamental rights and demanding that the case be dismissed, opposing the postponement. All people following this case continue to receive lessons from the learned Advocate Tundu Lissu,' the post adds. Image Screenshot of the altered post, taken on July 16, 2025 Similar claims were shared on X here and here. The image shows Hassan and a group of people in a stately room focused on a television screen purportedly showing Lissu in court. Lissu, a lawyer and chairperson of Tanzania's main opposition party Chadema, was arrested in April 2025 and charged with treason (archived here). His case was adjourned to July 30, 2025, despite the prosecution telling the court at the beginning of the month that investigations were completed, paving the way for the matter to be transferred to the high court (archived here). Chadema has been disqualified from the general election, scheduled for October, after demanding electoral reforms (archived here). Lissu, who has in the past had several brushes with the law, was accused of inciting the public to obstruct the 2025 polls during a political rally (archived here and here). Human rights organisations have since called for his unconditional release, amid accusations of Hassan's government stifling political opponents (archived here and here). However, the image purportedly showing Hassan watching Lissu's recent trial is digitally manipulated. Doctored image AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches and found that not only is the image altered, but the original predates the start of Lissu's trial. The original image was published on June 13, 2024, on the official Facebook page of the presidential communications directorate, State House, Tanzania (archived here). 'The President of the United Republic of Tanzania Hon. Samia Suluhu Hassan with her aides while following the 2024/25 Government Budget Session via television at her home in Chamwino, Dodoma Region,' reads the post. 'The speech was being read in parliament by the Minister of Finance, Hon. Dr. Mwigulu Lameck Nchemba on June 13, 2024,' the post adds. A comparison shows that the visuals on the television were replaced with a shot from Tanzanian broadcaster ITV's coverage of the trial (archived here). Image Screenshots comparing the altered image (left) and the original photo published by State House Tanzania The original photo, alongside others, was also published by the Tanzanian parliament X account on the same day (archived here). Rais wa Tanzania, Mhe. Samia Suluhu Hassan akiwa pamoja na Wasaidizi wake wakati akifuatilia Bunge la Bajeti Kuu ya Serikali ya mwaka 2024/25 kwa njia ya runinga nyumbani kwake Chamwino Mkoani Dodoma. Hotuba hiyo ilikuwa ikisomwa bungeni na Waziri wa Fedha, Dkt. Mwigulu Nchemba — Bunge la Tanzania (@bunge_tz) June 13, 2024 The image was also featured in local news reports at the time (archived here and here).
AFP
11 hours ago
- Business
- AFP
Pakistan power companies have not introduced additional peak charges
"Morning hours are also counted as peak hours ... Loot with both hands, loot the public," reads an Urdu-language post on X on July 12, 2025. It includes a screenshot of a table titled "Regional Peak Hours by Distribution Company" listing peak hour periods in the morning and evening from different Pakistan power companies. Image Screenshot of the false X post taken on July 15, 2025 with a red X added by AFP The same table was also shared elsewhere on Facebook and TikTok. Soaring fuel costs globally, coupled with demands from the International Monetary Fund to slash government subsidies, led successive Pakistani administrations to repeatedly hike electricity costs (archived link). Prices have fluctuated since 2022 but peaked at a 155-percent increase, and power bills sometimes outweigh rents. However, the country's power companies have not introduced additional peak hour charges for the morning. A reverse image search found the Ministry of Energy rejected the claim by reposting one such false post on X (archived link). "There is no change in electricity peak hours. Claims about the inclusion of morning hours as peak hours are completely false and misleading. Peak hours remain the same as before," it reads. "This is fake news and actionable disinformation." Image Screenshot of the Pakistan Ministry of Energy's response to the false claims on X, taken July 21, 2025 Most of Pakistan's power companies share the same evening peak hour charging schedule as the state-owned Power Information Technology Company, as shown in a timetable posted on its official website (archived link). Image A screenshot taken on July 18, 2025 of the official timetable of peak hour electricity tariff Meanwhile, the privately owned Karachi Electric charges extra for power usage between 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm from April to October, and between 6 pm to 10 pm for the remaining five months of the year (archived link). Neither company has announced an additional peak charge in the morning. Pakistani outlet Geo News also debunked the false claim (archived link).
AFP
13 hours ago
- AFP
Clip of truck hitting teen in Indonesia misrepresented as 'Bangladeshi driver resisting extortion'
Warning: graphic footage "I salute this patriotic and brave driver for killing even one extortionist. I appeal to all the drivers of the country to raze the extortionists in this way." reads part of the Bengali-language caption of a graphic Facebook video posted on July 4, 2025. Viewed more than 740,000 times, the video appears to show a person standing in the middle of the road attempting to stop an oncoming truck with their hands. The truck, however, does not stop and runs over the individual. Image Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on July 17, 2025, with a red X added by AFP The same clip was also shared in similar Facebook posts in Bangladesh, where -- according to a task force formed by the interim government -- extortion is deeply entrenched (archived link). There were nationwide protests on July 11 following the murder of a local scrap trader, reportedly because he refused to pay extortion money (archived link). The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, seen as the election frontrunner in polls scheduled for April 2026, has also started taking steps to weed out members allegedly involved in crimes ranging from extortion to rape and murder (archived here and here). The video circulating online, however, was not filmed in Bangladesh. A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to an Indonesian-language news report that included a still from the clip (archived link). The report by local media organisation Warta Kota, published on July 13, 2021, said the incident involved a teenager who sustained serious injuries and it occurred on RE Martadinata Street, in the North Cikarang district of Bekasi Regency (archived link). Image Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the image used in the Warta Kota report (right) A subsequent report by the Pos Kota newspaper on July 14, which also contained a screenshot from the video, said the teenager succumbed to his injuries (archived link). According to news outlet Tempo, the group of teens were doing a TikTok challenge dubbed "the grim reaper prank" (archived link). The report said the group had earlier filmed several similar videos before the deadly incident. Elements visible in the falsely shared video, including lamp posts and roadside plant pots, also correspond to Google Street View imagery of RE Martadinata Street (archived link). Image Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and Google Street View imagery of RE Martadinata Street (right), with corresponding features highlighted by AFP AFP has debunked other posts that falsely presented clips as having been filmed in Bangladesh here and here.
AFP
3 days ago
- Politics
- AFP
Video of 'German strike on Israel' is AI-generated
"Germany attacks Israel. What's going on?" reads the Indonesian-language text on a Facebook video shared on June 30, 2025. The clip appears to show an explosion in a built-up area, along with a caption that largely repeats the false claim. Image Screenshot of false post with red X added by AFP, taken on July 16, 2025 Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz has urged the foes to respect the truce (archived link). The clip also spread on YouTube, Threads, and SnackVideo, along with the false claim. Some users appear to believe the footage is genuine, linking it to the recen "The Jews were Germany's enemies during Adolf Hitler's time," said one user. Another wrote, "Impressive". But the video is AI-generated. A reverse image search on Google led to a YouTube video uploaded on June 23, 2025, titled "Shocking giant blas (sic) in Middle East, still confirming" (archived link). The clip is labelled "Altered or synthetic content", and that its "sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated". Image Screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and YouTube video labelled as made with AI There is also a watermark that reads "Kling AI" in the bottom right corner of the clip -- a tool used to generate images into videos (archived link). Visual inconsistencies can also be seen in the clip -- including that explosion not having any impact on the surrounding area -- which strongly indicates a video made using AI. Image Screenshot of the YouTube video with visual inconsistencies highlighted in red by AFP AFP also debunked numerous misinformation related to the Iran-Israel war (archived link).
