We’ve spotted social media posts claiming that China has banned all US citizens from entering the country due to hantavirus. But this isn’t true.

A video shared last month with claims it shows a recent clash between immigrant and nationalist groups in London is actually from 2023 and was reportedly filmed after a pro-Palestine march.

Labour’s manifesto promised to introduce a “new Energy Independence Act”. The Bill that would achieve this was referenced in last week’s King’s Speech, as our Government Tracker explains 👇

From saving cafes to rescuing twins: Facebook pages which appear to be run from Vietnam are using AI to flood users’ feeds with bizarre fake emotional stories about politicians like Nigel Farage and Rishi Sunak. Our new investigation 👇

A Bengali-language campaign video posted by the Green Party’s candidate for the Mayor of Newham has been shared online with false claims it shows the Greens celebrating an election win. Our fact check 👇

With two major protests set to take place in London tomorrow, it’s likely we’ll see claims about the number of people attending each march. Our explainer looks at how crowd sizes are estimated and why the numbers quoted are often wide of the mark.

A picture of a map supposedly showing “Reform councils in the UK” has been widely shared on social media. But this map doesn’t include several county councils now run by Reform, or others the party won control of at local elections last year.

The Conservatives’ Alternative King’s Speech claimed the welfare bill is higher than income tax receipts “for the first time ever”. We’ve heard this a few times recently, but it’s not true. Welfare spending (including pensions) has been higher for years.

A clip that appears to show JFK criticising Israel for its “expansionist ideas” has been shared thousands of times. But there’s no evidence it’s real and media forensics experts say there are many clues that suggest it was generated with AI.

The Conservative party’s “Alternative King’s Speech” claims unemployment has risen “every month” that Labour have been in government. We’ve fact checked this claim several times over the past year—it isn’t correct.

Last month our investigation found a series of misleading, unsourced or unreliable bar charts in local election leaflets. Now the elections are over, how did six of those charts compare with the results? Not always very closely, it turns out.

In the #KingsSpeech the government restated its commitment to bring forward a “draft Bill to ban abusive conversion practices”. This was also included in Labour’s 2024 King’s Speech, but it didn’t happen in the last parliamentary session.

The #KingsSpeech included a reference to “an Energy Independence Bill”. This was promised in Labour’s 2024 election manifesto and referenced in the last King’s Speech, but hasn’t yet been introduced. Our Government Tracker has the latest:

In the #KingsSpeech the government has recommitted to introducing the Hillsborough Law. This legislation was introduced in the last parliamentary session, but progress on the bill stalled. Our Government Tracker has more:

False claims that one of Reform UK’s newly elected councillors doesn’t actually exist have been spreading online. The councillor, George Boyd, is in fact real.

Our Government Tracker has been following Labour's manifesto promises since 2024. Here's what to watch in today's King's Speech and beyond:

What did Scottish and Welsh election candidates talk about on social media during their campaigns? We’ve used AI to help analyse 19,000+ posts to see what dominated. (And it was the economy, stupid—although there were a few surprises too.)

In the run-up to last week’s elections we asked readers to send us claims to check from their local area. We received dozens of tips - many of them about bar charts in campaign leaflets. Here are some highlights 👇

Posts shared thousands of times online claim hantavirus is listed as a side effect of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine. This isn’t true. Hantavirus is listed as one of many health conditions monitored during vaccine trials for safety, not a side effect. (1/2) fullfact.org/health/hanta...

A picture that appears to show Tommy Robinson with the suspect in the White House Correspondents’ dinner shooting, Cole Allen, has been shared online. But this image is fake, and was made using AI.

A viral video claiming to show Iranian missiles hitting US ships actually dates back to 2016 and shows a military sinking exercise.

Both Reform UK and the Conservatives claim to have delivered the lowest average council tax increase of any major party. We’ve taken a look at these seemingly contrasting claims. (1/2)

In the run-up to tomorrow’s elections in Scotland, Wales and parts of England, we’ve seen posts urging voters to take their own pen to the polling station rather than use the pencil provided. Here’s what the rules say about using pens and pencils to vote.

After a question from a reader, we’ve looked at bar charts on two Scottish Labour leaflets which show the party ahead of the SNP in Scottish parliamentary constituencies, based on projections from the 2024 general election. Our fact check 👇

In the last few weeks we’ve been busy fact checking the 2026 elections, covering everything from AI videos to dodgy bar charts, as well as crowdsourcing claims and monitoring social media at scale. So, as polling day nears, what have we learnt?

1/ Elections across England, Wales and Scotland take place tomorrow. We've been checking the claims. Here's everything we've published 🧵

A Scottish council has apologised after incorrectly sending voters information saying they would need photo ID for Thursday's Scottish Parliament elections. Here's a clear guide to where photo ID is and isn't required across the UK tomorrow:

In election leaflets received by some households in Scotland, Reform UK have claimed Scotland is housing 10% of the UK’s asylum seekers. That isn’t correct according to the latest figures, which show it’s actually more like 6%.

Social media users have questioned whether an image shared on social media by SNP leader John Swinney was made with AI. It is a photo of a real event. But the SNP told us it was “edited quickly” to lighten a billboard. fullfact.org/politics/snp...

Videos which have been shared hundreds of times on Facebook claim the Supreme Court has ordered Sir Keir Starmer to resign. This simply isn’t true.

A video which seems to show the moment UK Border Force intercepts a small boat carrying migrants has thousands of comments, many from people who appear to believe it’s genuine. But the footage is fake, and created with AI: fullfact.org/immigration/...

False reports that drivers have rammed into Muslim “street prayers” in London and Cardiff have been gaining traction on social media. But there’s no evidence that these incidents happened, and the posts include old and AI generated images.

SNP leader John Swinney claimed in a leaflet “there are no university tuition fees in Scotland”. That isn’t quite right. While many undergraduates have their degrees paid for, fees do need to be paid by some students, including many postgraduates.

A video styled as a BBC report claims a stolen Cézanne painting has been identified in the background of a video posted by Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But the real video posted by the Ukrainian president includes a different painting and the BBC confirmed the report is fake. fullfact.org/culture-and-...

A fake video on Facebook claims to show real voters on the street ahead of elections next month. The clip, in which they all say who they would vote for, is AI-generated.

A 2025 video of Donald Trump announcing ‘gold cards’ as a path to citizenship in the US has been edited to show the president criticising the Mayor of London. President Trump has been highly critical of Sir Sadiq Khan, but the audio in these particular clips is fake.

A video viewed over 400,000 times which claims to be recent footage of a crowded small boat crossing the English Channel, isn’t genuine. The clip is AI generated.

A fake Daily Mail article headlined “Members think Keir Starmer shouldn’t resign” has been circulating online. The Mail published no such article, although the survey it describes is real.

Posts on Facebook claim Reform UK politician Zia Yusuf was named as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2026. This is false. Mr Yusuf doesn’t appear on the magazine’s TIME100 list.

A video’s been widely shared on social media with false claims it shows the Mayor of Rotherham calling for Sharia law and the expulsion of non-Muslims from Britain. But that’s not what she says in the clip, which is actually part of a Ramadan message.

A video of a helicopter on fire has been shared online with claims that it shows a US Black Hawk helicopter shot down by Iran. But this isn’t true - the clip is actually from Syria in 2020.

A video on Facebook claiming to show a 500-strong anti-government protest in Birmingham is AI-generated and not real footage. West Midlands Police also told us it was not aware of any such recent protest.

Social media posts claim Reform UK edited the announcement of a Harrow candidate and replaced a photo of her wearing a headscarf after “backlash”. But there’s absolutely no evidence this is true, and the candidate told us the headscarf image is fake.

Can you trust those bar charts in the local election leaflets on your doormat? We’ve found over a dozen examples of leaflets making claims about how people are likely to vote which are misleading, or not backed with reliable evidence. Our investigation 👇

An independent candidate in the upcoming Scottish elections on May 7th has told us “illustrative” AI-generated videos he shared of himself campaigning don’t show real events. After we got in touch, he re-uploaded the videos to more clearly label the footage as AI. fullfact.org/politics/gla...

We’ve updated our article about Reform UK’s council tax promises after readers got in touch to share examples of claims they’d seen. If you see any election claims you think we should be fact checking, please get in touch via our tipline. fullfact.org/politics/ref...

During a recent ITV Wales election debate Reform UK’s Welsh leader Dan Thomas claimed “we don’t know” how many asylum seekers have been “dispersed across Wales”. But the UK government does publish this information, as our fact check explains.

Videos supposedly showing large groups of Muslims praying in the middle of streets in central London have been gaining traction on social media. But they aren’t real. The clips feature garbled text, glitching flags, and AI watermarks.

Viral videos of overturned dinghies in the Channel have been shared with claims that over 100 people have died. It’s true that six people have died attempting to cross the English Channel this month, but these videos are fake and were made using AI.

A viral image that appears to show people cleaning blood off a street in Iran isn’t real. It’s true that thousands of protesters were killed in January, but this image is fake and there are several signs it was made with AI.