Posts about allegedly exploding electric cars have been circulating on social media for a long time. However, the footage usually shows cars with combustion engines that the authors of such manipulations misleadingly label as electric vehicles. According to available data, electric cars are in fact safer in this regard, as fires and explosions occur far less frequently. What do these viral posts look like, and how widespread is the narrative about exploding electric cars? We describe this phenomenon in our prebunking article.
Economy
A blockbuster study published in top science journal Nature in April 2024 warned that unchecked climate change could slash global GDP by a staggering 62 percent by century’s end, setting off alarm bells among financial institutions worldwide.
“Tariff problems, a sudden attack,” reads simplified Chinese sticker text on an April 11 Douyin video of a man appearing to walk on stage behind Trump, hit him, and walk away as Trump ducks and Secret Service agents rush up to protect him.
“Boycott Israeli products! Easy way to identify Israeli products. If there are 729 numbers at the beginning of Barcode! It means Israeli product (sic),” reads a Facebook post from Nigeria shared alongside an image of a barcode.
“BRICS now controls 80% of global oil trade. The oil trade will not be in US dollars,” says an August 24 post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Putin’s dedollarization project is shaping up beautifully.”
“Bitcoin mining has zero carbon emissions,” says an April 10, 2023 tweet from Riot Platforms Inc.
“Global elites are trying to create a panic as an excuse to transition to CBDC total control,” says a March 12, 2023 Instagram post sharing a clip of InfoWars founder Alex Jones interviewing former Donald Trump aide Michael Flynn, who has promoted a range of conspiracy theories.
“Ukrainian army destroys its own drilling platform,” reads a simplified-Chinese Weibo post shared on June 21.
“Has the monkey smallpox pandemic begun?” reads a Korean-language Facebook postfrom May 22.
01.06.2022: Doctored image does not show KFC in Russia that ‘changed name to Siberian Fried Chicken’
“Russia’s KFC changed its name to SFC (literal translation: Siberian Fried Chicken) to stay in business,” reads a simplified-Chinese tweetposted on March 14.