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AFP's fact-check service debunks misinformation spread online. Here are some of our recent fact-checks: Shortly after US President Joe Biden took office on January 20, 2021, an image circulated online that purported to show a letter from his predecessor, Donald Trump. But a digital investigation by AFP found the purported letter was doctored from an old template that has previously been used in online hoaxes. As of January 27, 2021, Biden has not revealed the content of a letter he said Trump left for him before his inauguration as 46th president of the United States. Footage of Ugandan security forces firing shots and using tear gas to disperse protesters has been shared multiple times in social media posts that claim the footage captures the aftermath of the country's 2021 presidential poll. The video, however, comes from a 2018 television broadcast showing Ugandan police and opposition protesters clashing in the capital Kampala and several other cities in the country. A video was viewed tens of thousands of times on Facebook, YouTube and TikTok alongside a claim that it shows a flight attendant crying on board Indonesia's Sriwijaya Air flight SJ 182 shortly before the aircraft crashed into the Java Sea in January 2021. The claim is false. The clip in fact shows a Filipina flight attendant speaking about her last shift for the Philippine low-cost airline Cebu Pacific in 2020. As South Korean lawmakers debate new legislation that would stipulate how Covid-19 vaccines should be administered in the country, some South Korean social media users shared posts which claimed citizens can refuse to be vaccinated based on two medical ethic codes. The claim, however, lacks important context. The two ethics codes -- the Oath of Hippocrates and the Declaration of Geneva -- do not relate to a patient's rights and are not legally binding. The proposed Covid-19 vaccination bill in South Korea is also set to allow for certain exemptions. A Facebook post that claims anti-parasite drug ivermectin has been "officially recommended" by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to treat Covid-19 was shared more than 100 times in South Africa. The claim is false. The NIH confirmed to AFP that there is no enough data at this moment to "recommend either for or against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of Covid-19". Furthermore, it is the Food and Drug Administration that approves drugs in the US, not the NIH. afp
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