Mostly False: 680,000 Libyan migrants will arrive in Europe specifically Germany

In a Facebook post from March 21st, 2023, German AFD politician Jonas Dünzel claimed that 680,000 migrants are waiting in Libya to continue their journey to Europe, specifically Germany. This statement is mostly false as there are 680,000 migrants currently on route through Libya, however, Germany is currently not listed as a destination. The claim…

Mostly true: “Banning nuclear energy is the stupidest thing a country can do”

On April 18th of this year, Bart de Wever, the leader of the political opposition party the New-Flemish Alliance claimed on Twitter that ‘banning nuclear energy is the stupidest thing a country can do’. The tweet lacks context but contains accurate numbers. It appears this claim is mostly true. Bart De Wever tweeted a screenshot…

Uncheckable: “Oktoberfest 2023: Numbers of assaults against girls and women significantly decrease”

In an article from the German news website “Merkur.de”, journalist Lisa Metzger claims that the number of assaults against girls and women decreased significantly. According to our research, this statement appears to be uncheckable. In the article “Wiesn 2023: Significantly fewer assaults on women than the previous year – Suspected cases of date rape drugs…

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Mostly false: “Eating less meat would be a contribution against Mr. Putin”

The German federal Minister of Food and Agriculture said in an interview with the German news website “Der Spiegel”, that eating less meat would be a contribution against Putin. According to our research, it turns out that this statement is mostly false. In the Spiegel interview from 18th March 2022, Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir addresses…

Uncheckable: “Germany doesn’t have too few caregivers, we just use them very inefficiently”

On Oct. 18, 2022, Germany’s health minister, Karl Lauterbach, claimed on ZDF’s Morgenmagazin: “Germany doesn’t have too few caregivers measured against the population, we just use them very inefficiently.” We find this claim to be uncheckable. Germany has a shortage of care workers and it appears that the situation will become worse in the future.…

Mostly false: Without the dissenting votes of the AfD, a vaccine mandate would have been introduced in Germany

On April 07th 2022, German right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) politician Alice Weidel claimed on Twitter that the vaccine mandate in Germany only failed because of the dissenting votes of her party. She refers to the voting of the deputies in the Bundestag earlier that day. According to Weidel, only 40 votes more…

Mostly true: Jews are feeling increasingly insecure due to Covid-19

Pincheas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of the European Rabbis, claims that “Jews are feeling increasingly insecure. Corona has worsened the whole situation and the inhibitions are getting lower (…).” Is Goldschmidt’s concern reasonable? Partly, yes.  On 14 February 2022, the German news website tagesschau.de published an article on the “New danger of old…

Mostly False: “German taxpayers have the highest tax and contribution burden in the world”

After the German government decided in April to provide one billion euros in military aid to Ukraine, critical voices were raised, especially from the opposition. On April 16, 2022 the deputy federal spokesperson of the right-wing party “Alternative für Deutschland” (AfD) Georg Pazderski wrote on Twitter: “It is not Scholz who is providing more than…

False: „Germany will never fulfill its energy requirements with only wind energy and solar power.“

On March 26th 2022, Stephan Brandner, Deputy Federal Spokesperson of the right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), posted a press release on Instagram in which he claims that Germany will never fulfill its energy demand with only wind energy and solar power. Different studies have proven that this statement is false. In the past the…

Uncheckable: “Generation Z has more mental health problems than any other generation before”

German trend researcher Corinna Mühlhausen claims to have found out that “Generation Z suffers from psychological problems more than any other generation before it”. Even though the numbers of psychotherapies of children and adolescents are rising rapidly right now, it is not possible to verify this fact clearly. Therefore this claim must be classified as…