CLAIM: Bridget Brink, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, was arrested on expenses of excessive treason.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The State Division instructed The Related Press that Brink has not been arrested. The declare was first made by a web site that says that it publishes “humor, parody, and satire” and has beforehand printed comparable false tales.
THE FACTS: Social media customers are sharing the false declare that Brink was arrested on expenses of excessive treason, baselessly claiming she supplied Ukrainian officers with massive quantities of money from the Biden administration.
“BREAKING: US Particular forces have arrested US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Ann Brink on expenses of excessive treason,” one tweet alleged. “US Cyber Command has found she has been hand delivering monumental quantities of money on to Ukrainian officers on behalf of the Biden Administration.”
The tweet had acquired greater than 10,000 likes and greater than 6,000 shares as of Friday.
Actual Uncooked News, a website that incessantly publishes fabricated tales, made this declare in an article printed on Monday. The positioning features a disclaimer stating that it “comprises humor, parody, and satire.” It didn’t return a request for remark.
The article didn’t present any credible proof for its declare, citing solely nameless sources.
“That is false,” the State Division instructed the AP in a press release. “The USA Ambassador to Ukraine was not arrested.”
The article falsely claimed that Brink was arrested in Ferndale, California, on Saturday, however pictures present she was in Ukraine this week.
On Monday, Brink tweeted pictures of herself at a gathering with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Zelenskyy’s workplace additionally posted pictures of the assembly. The pair spoke about latest Russian assaults on Ukrainian infrastructure, which occurred the identical day.
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That is a part of AP’s effort to handle extensively shared misinformation, together with work with exterior firms and organizations so as to add factual context to deceptive content material that’s circulating on-line. Be taught extra about fact-checking at AP.
