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This International #FactCheckingDay, we reaffirm our commitment: we don’t just share information, we fact-check it.

Integrity drives everything we do. Our mission is clear: stand for facts in a world where information is easily designed to mislead.

Support Africa Check and help make the world a more reliable place. Every contribution strengthens fact-checking and helps keeps truth resilient.

A weekly guide to spotting, understanding and stopping viral misinformation

A video on X showing a giraffe hitting a bridge has over 10 million views, but it’s fake – all versions are AI-generated. Some even show two giraffes or a giant inflatable.

How we know it’s fake

• No real incident: The only similar case is a 2014 Pretoria accident documented in photos and not video.
• Visual errors: Giraffes appear with two heads, trucks have uneven sides and car mirrors defy logic.
• Unrealistic physics: Necks bend unnaturally, and inflatable giraffes remain upright even after bursting.

Real-world animal safety

Transporting giraffes safely is possible, but requires careful planning.

According to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation:

• Avoid low bridges and power lines.
  Use specialised trucks with high sides and veterinary support.
  Escort vehicles and safety equipment are standard practice.
• The AI-generated videos ignore all of these precautions – another clear sign they are not real.

Why we fact-check claims like this

At Africa Check, we verify viral content to stop the spread of misinformation, especially when it involves distressing scenes.

Videos like these, which depict bizarre and obviously dangerous situations, should be treated with caution unless supported by credible evidence.

Sharing such content without verification can:

• • Spread panic or misunderstanding about animal welfare.
  • Amplify AI-generated fakes and encouraging their creators to make more.
  • Blur the line between reality and fiction online.

More AI fakes you shouldn’t believe

• Shocking lion attack turns into heartwarming hug? Why you should care about badly made AI-generated videos.
• Viral ATM videos are AI-generated, no Capitec bank glitch making South Africans rich.
• Ignore AI-generated videos advertising impossible anti-ageing remedies.
• AI-generated video of Nigerian celebrities promoting a nonexistent hypertension cure
• No, Operation Dudula leader is not resigning; videos and images AI generated
• Ignore AI-generated photo of Isiolo-Mandera road in Kenya

Recommended reading

• Africa Check’s guide to spotting AI-generated images and videos.
• AI-powered disinformation: deepfakes, detection technology and the weaponisation of doubt

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, despite being widely shared. 

FALSE: No evidence Donald Trump visited Benjamin Netanyahu’s grave – or that the Israeli prime minister is dead.

FALSE: A crowd image claiming to show the funeral of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son is likely AI-generated.

FALSE: No, a concoction of olive oil, cloves and Vicks VapoRub will not clear varicose veins – rely on verified health information.

FALSE: A viral image appears to show a settlement with shacks made entirely from official South African road signs. Part of the image draws from an authentic photo, but all signs point to the circulating image being an AI creation.

Kenya 🇰🇪

FALSE: A video appearing to show Kenyan president William Ruto watching a governor and politicial rival on TV has been circulating on Facebook. But the clip has been digitally manipulated. It combines unrelated footage from 2025 and 2026.

FALSE: Kenya’s interior minister Kipchumba Murkomen didn’t issue an arrest warrant for opposition politician and presidential aspirant Fred Matiang’i.

FAKE: No evidence that former Kenyan second lady Dorcas Rigathi plans a 2027 governor bid.

Nigeria 🇳🇬

FALSE: No evidence photo shows doctors using phone flashlights during surgery in Nigeria due to blackouts.

FALSE: No, Nigeria’s University of Port Harcourt has not banned smartphones on campus.

FALSE: A purported price list for All Progressives Congress nomination forms ahead of the 2027 Nigerian elections is circulating online. But the ruling party says the figures are false and no costing has been made.

FALSE: Senatorial hopeful Ezekiel Dalhatu’s biological father died in 2020 – he is not senator Philip Aduda’s son.

Disinformation is growing fast—from coordinated campaigns in 81 countries to nearly 200 across Africa. And it’s personal: most people online have encountered false information, often only realising later. That’s why fact-checking matters more than ever.

In 2021, University of Oxford researchers published a report which found evidence of coordinated social media manipulation in 81 countries in 2020. This was an increase from 70 countries in 2019, 48 in 2018 and just 28 in 2017.

More recently, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies released a 2024 analysis mapping disinformation campaigns in Africa specifically, documenting 189 campaigns across at least 39 countries on the continent – nearly four times the number they identified in 2022.

A 2019 survey by multinational market research firm Ipsos and partners found that 86% of online global citizens in 25 economies, including South Africa, believed they had been exposed to fake news.

A later survey by Ipsos and Unesco from 2023 looked at 16 countries holding elections in 2024, and found that 94% said they had been misled or influenced by disinformation before finding it out was false (at least once). 78% said they often read disinformation on social media. 

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Your weekly dose of facts in newsletter form is created by Laura Kapelari (@laurakapelari). It is edited by Lee Mwiti (@LMAfrican) and Cayley Clifford (@cayleyclifford).