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Mis/disinformation like they say, never sleeps or goes on holiday.
As the year 2025 enters into full gear, here are the top claims we fact-checked in the last week.
- Early morning urine as treatment for conjunctivitis (Apollo)
In December, amidst the Christmas celebration, a mother was thrown into confusion as her baby had a condition that was preventing her from opening her eyes. This mother, a Facebook user, shared a video on the issue, and her comment section was flooded with diagnoses and treatment options.
While many recommended she seek medical attention, one comment on the use of early morning urine to wash the face stood out for us.
Is this true? What is the relationship between early morning urine and an eye infection?
Our fact-check to answer all these and more and found that there is no relationship between conjunctivitis and urine. Experts also warned against its use in the treatment of the condition.
Read more on Conjuctivitis and the best ways to treat this eye infection.
- Old video used to depict French Army’s presence in Nigeria
2023 has been described as the year of coups for many African countries and this has led to many conspiracy theories and projections.
In July 2023, a coup in Niger Republic brought in Abdourabamane Tchiani. Reacting to this, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed sanctions and ultimatums in a bid to restore democratic governance in member states.
This, however, had more effect than planned as it stirred up allegations of Nigeria partnering with France to destabilise Niger. Although this allegation which has been denied by the Nigerian government posts like this claiming French Army had arrived Nigeria continue to drive the narrative.
Our findings, however, found the video shared with the claim is old and unrelated. Read more here.
- Viral image from Hawaii fire incident used to depict LA fire
The January 7 fire outbreak in Los Angeles (LA) has been the centre of conversations online in the past week.
As expected with every trend, several claims and theories have been circulated. One of such claims is a viral image allegedly depicting the ruins from the fire and a red roofed building that survived.
While some said it survived because it use to be a house for studying the Quran, others said it is because it used to be a church while some said it was an Artificial Intelligence generated image.
Our findings, however, show none of these is true as the image is not related to the LA fire. Read the fact-check here.
- Viral Video on how the LA fire started
Amidst an effort to contain the fire in LA, a Threads user shared a video allegedly depicting how the fire started. The video shows a man playing a golf ball with fire.
We found that this video has been online since December 2024, long before the fire in LA broke out. Read more here.