Fact-check: How many young people use cocaine in Malta?
A new study shows that just 0.1% of young people consume cocaine, according to Home Affairs Minister Glenn Bedingfield
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Society
Bananas impact some, but not all, health benefits from berries
Social media is filled with posts warning that blending bananas into smoothies with berries will negate the drinks’ nutritional benefits. But those claims are based on a small study that looked at the uptake of just one heart-healthy compound found in berries. Experts continue to recommend smoothies as a way to increase fruit consumption among Americans.
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Fact-check Malta: Footage claiming to be a US missile strike in Kuwait shows an explosion in Malta
June 3, 2026 Videos of an explosion posted by pro-Iranian accounts on X, supposedly showing a US missile strike on army bases in Kuwait, are of an explosion in Malta on Monday June 1, 2026. The videos show a spectacular series of explosions resulting in a large plume of black smoke rising into the air.
Climate consensus remains despite revisions to far-end emission scenarios
Recent adjustments to the most extreme scenarios included in key UN climate reports are being misrepresented across social media, including by US President Donald Trump. These updates do not discredit the strong concensus in climate research showing human emissions are behind major environmental shifts and the changes were recommended by independent experts to reflect renewable energy implementation.
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He said, she said, AI said: Wall Street sex scandal rivets and confounds
May 21, 2026 A Wall Street banker’s explosive sexual harassment lawsuit against a female executive has triggered a torrent of salacious falsehoods muddying the waters — with AI-created deepfakes and memes fueling the frenzy. The social media storm erupted soon after the suit — packed with allegations of sexual abuse, coercion, and racial harassment —
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Claims of ‘staged’ US press gala shooting misrepresent Fox News coverage
Social media users are misrepresenting Fox News coverage to support baseless allegations that US President Donald Trump staged the assassination attempt that disrupted a press gala in Washington on April 25, 2026. A purported Fox Business Network graphic saying 70 percent of Americans believe the gunfire was orchestrated is an altered fake, and online claims that Fox News cut off a correspondent on air because she was revealing a pre-planned plot have been refuted by both the network and the journalist.
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What’s real anymore? AI warps truth of Middle East war
April 21, 2026 “Is Netanyahu real or AI?” an internet headline blared, pointing to a video that supposedly showed the Israeli prime minister with six fingers. But the clip was real. Speculation spiraled online that Netanyahu might be dead or wounded in an Iranian strike and that Israel was covering it up with a double
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Fact-check Malta: Is pensioners’ income now completely tax-free?
A new measure promised to exempt pensioners earning up to €37,000 from income tax
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‘Narrative war’: disinformation surges as conflict roils Middle East
March 6, 2026 Recycled images, video game footage passed off as missile strikes, and AI-generated combat visuals: the US-Israeli assault on Iran has unleashed a torrent of online disinformation that analysts are calling a war of narratives. Since US and Israeli strikes over the weekend ignited a regional conflict, a parallel information war has erupted,
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Fact-check Malta: Fake video shows newscaster promoting sham lottery app
February 20, 2026 A new video showing a Television Malta (TVM) news feature about a lottery is manipulated by AI to promote what appears to be a sham lottery. The minute-long video shows Angelica Farrugia, a newscaster at the state broadcaster’s TV station TVM, presenting the evening news, as she would do on a typical
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