Maddock’s post drew swift criticism on social media, with multiple accounts noting that an earlier post on the Gonzaga men’s basketball team’s social media page had indicated their departure for Detroit, featuring an Allegiant plane.
“A sitting State Representative sees a group of buses at the airport and immediately yells ‘illegal invaders’ which is a pretty rude (and also, frankly, dangerous) way to greet the Gonzaga Men’s Basketball Team arriving for March Madness,” state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat, wrote on social media.
Maddock doubled down on his posts Thursday, adding that hundreds of thousands of “illegals are pouring into our country,” and into Michigan. In a text response to The Associated Press, Maddock declined to acknowledge that the buses were transporting basketball players.
“I haven’t heard a good answer yet,” Maddock wrote. “I took a tip and asked because this is happening in many places and it is well documented.”
Some Republicans who had initially echoed Maddock’s claims made in his original post, such as Michigan GOP chairman Pete Hoekstra, quickly backtracked.
Maddock, a Republican representing parts of metro Detroit, was endorsed by Trump while running for reelection in 2022. Trump said in his statement endorsing Maddock that Michigan needs leadership “who will investigate and document the 2020 voter fraud, the crime of the century.”
His wife, Meshawn Maddock, the former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, is one of 15 Republicans facing eight criminal charges on accusations of acting as fake electors for then-President Trump in 2020. All defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Activists gathered in front of Indonesia’s parliament in March 2024 to protest alleged violations in the presidential election, however, a clip of police firing water cannons shared in posts about the demonstrations has circulated online since 2019. The footage — filmed by a local media outlet — shows a violent protest in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta against proposed amendments for a new criminal code.
The clip — viewed more than 4,700 times — was shared alongside the false claim on TikTok on March 6, 2024, with superimposed text that reads “BREAKING NEWS”.
The clip shows a photo of a massive rally, with the logo for Indonesian media outlet Kompas TV partially visible in the picture. The Indonesian-language text added to the video indicated it was from a recent protest against Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
It translated in part as: “Senayan is burning. The second reform has started. Jokowi is forced to step down. The people demand that democracy is restored.”
Activists use the term “the second reform” to demand a cleaner and more democratic government (archived link).
In the video, a female narrator can be heard saying in Indonesian: “We are now seeing the situation in front of the Indonesian parliament building in Jakarta.
“You can see that security officers have started to shoot water cannons toward the protesters who gathered in front of the Indonesian parliament building.”
Screenshot of the false post, taken on March 28, 2024
The post surfaced a day after hundreds of people gathered in front of the Indonesian parliament building in Jakarta’s Senayan district to protest alleged interference in the February 2024 presidential election won by Prabowo Subianto (archived link).
Prabowo’s running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka is the eldest son of incumbent President Jokowi. Critics alleged the outgoing leader used state resources to favour Prabowo and Gibran — however, Jokowi has denied this (archived link).
The clip was also viewed more than 10,000 times after it was shared with a similar claim elsewhere on TikTok here and here; as well as on Instagram and SnackVideo.
2019 protest footage
Reverse image and keyword searches on Google found a video published on YouTube by Indonesian broadcaster Kompas TV on September 24, 2019 (archived link).
The report was headlined: “Latest Update — Heating Up, Police Release Water Cannon on Demonstrators in Front of the Indonesian Parliament Building”.
“The police started to push back the demonstrators in front of the Indonesian parliament building using water cannons to disperse the crowd gathering in front of the Indonesian Parliament Building,” the report’s caption said.
“The police have also put forces on standby inside the area of the parliament building. Demonstrators are throwing various objects at the security forces.”
The caption also included the hashtags “DemoMahasiswa”, “DPRRI” and “RevisiKUHP” — which translate respectively as “StudentDemonstration”, “IndonesianParliament” and “CriminalCodeRevision”.
The picture used in the false video was taken from Kompas TV video’s 19-second mark, while the voice of the female narrator can be heard throughout the original clip.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip in the false post (left) and the corresponding scene from the original Kompas TV footage (right):
Screenshot comparison of the clip in the false post (left) and the corresponding scene from the original Kompas TV footage (right)
Keyword searches of the hashtags on social media platform X found a report published by local news organisation Indopos.co.id about a rally in front of parliament in September 2019 to protest proposed changes in Indonesia’s criminal code (archived link).
AFP reported that police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters at the demonstration.
Protests erupted nationwide against a wide-ranging legal overhaul that proposed new laws that would criminalise pre-marital sex, restrict sales of contraceptives, make it illegal to insult the president and toughen the Muslim-majority country’s blasphemy laws.
The Indonesian parliament passed the legislation in December 2022.
Another image taken from the Kompas TV clip was published by the Indonesian news outlet Tribunnews, an affiliate company of Kompas Gramedia group, on September 24, 2019 (archived link).
AFP previously debunked other misinformation related to the 2024 elections here.
As fighting between the Burmese junta and ethnic rebel forces intensifies, a video of tanks being transported in Cambodia has been shared hundreds of times in social media with a false claim that it was taken in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in March 2024. The video was posted online at least two months earlier and was filmed at a market in the southwestern part of Cambodia.
“10/3/2024 Rakhine,” reads the Burmese caption of a Facebook post published on March 10, 2024.
The video shows a convoy of large trucks carrying tanks in camouflage patterns through a road.
Screenshot taken on March 25, 2024 of the false post
Clashes have rocked Myanmar’s western Rakhine state since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked security forces in November 2023, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since the military’s 2021 coup.
Junta troops hold Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, but in recent weeks AA fighters have made gains in surrounding districts.
Pro-junta Facebook accounts in Myanmar have also shared the video alongside similar claims here and here.
The comments under the post suggest that many people believed this video was filmed in Rakhine.
“May Myanmar army troops win,” one person commented.
Another wrote, “May our Tatmadaw succeed in all the wars.”
However, this video was not filmed in Myanmar. AFP was able to geolocate the video to a market in Cambodia.
Shot in Cambodia
Keyword search of the TikTok handle seen in the clip led to a video published on January 26, 2024 by a user who regularly uploads videos in Khmer – the official language of Cambodia (archived link).
The same user has also published multiple videos from the same location (archived link).
Below is the screenshot comparison of the video from the false post (left) and the video from TikTok (right):
Screenshot comparison of the video from the misleading post (left) and the video from TikTok (right)
Multiple billboards with Khmer language are visible in the video.
Using these visual clues, AFP was able to geolocate the video to Tram Kak market in Cambodia’s Takeo province, located about 80 kilometres (50 miles) southwest of the capital Phnom Penh.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the Google Street View image of Tram Kak market (right) with similarities highlighted by AFP:
Screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the Google Street View image of Tram Kak market
Reverse image search on Google of the insignia seen in the tanks also showed that the vehicles belong to the Royal Cambodian Army as seen in this AFP photo.
Below is the screenshot comparison of the tanks seen in the TikTok video (left) and the AFP photo (right) with the insignia highlighted by AFP:
Screenshot comparison of the tanks seen in the TikTok video (left) and the AFP photo (right) with the insignia highlighted by AFP
The video was published days after Cambodia held a military parade to mark the 25th anniversary of the formation of the Royal Cambodian Army at its headquarters in the capital Phnom Penh on January 24, 2024 (archived link).
AFP had previously debunked misinformation related to clashes in Myanmar here, here and here.
After Shehbaz Sharif was sworn in prime minister of Muslim-majority Pakistan, posts surfaced in its Hindu-majority neighbour India which falsely claimed a performer sang a Hindu hymn during the event. But the video in the posts previously appeared in news reports about a festival celebration in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi in March 2017. The singer shown in the clip told AFP she did not attend Sharif’s oath-taking ceremony in March 2024.
The video was shared by an India-based user on social media platform X on March 13, 2024, days after Sharif’s swearing in ceremony.
The post falsely claimed a singer named Narodha Malni performed the “Gayatri mantra” Hindu hymn during the event. It said: “Pakistan prime minister’s swearing in ceremony starting with ‘Gayatri maha mantra’ by smt. Naroda Malini Sahiba. Now Pakistan has officially recognised the importance & its recited in all functions.”
Sharif took his oath on March 4, following an election marred by vote rigging claims. His army-backed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz allied with historic rivals and several smaller factions to shut out candidates loyal to jailed ex-prime minister Imran Khan.
Khan’s candidates secured more seats in parliament than any other party but fell far short of the majority needed to form a government.
Text overlaid to the video, written in Telugu language widely spoken in southern India, similarly said it showed a Pakistani woman singing “Gayatri mantra” in front of the prime minister.
The video, however, showed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the older brother of the current leader.
Screenshot of the false post taken on March 13, 2024
Similar posts featuring the video were also shared elsewhere on X here and here, as well as on Facebook here, here and here.
A review of Sharif’s swearing-in ceremony streamed live on YouTube by local media Dunya News, however, found no Hindu hymn performance (archived link).
Holi celebration
Moreover, reverse image and keyword searches on Google found the clip is old.
A report from BBC News Hindi on March 21, 2017 featured portions of the video. It said the clip showed singer Narodha Malni performing the Gayatri mantra in front of Nawaz Sharif — the prime minister at the time (archived link).
The report added the event was a celebration in Pakistan’s Karachi city of Holi, an Indian festival that signifies the start of spring (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip falsely shared online (left) and the news report from BBC News Hindi (right):
Video in one of the false posts (left) and from the 2017 BBC News Hindi report (right)
Several Indian news sites such as here and here also reported on Malni’s performance and featured similar clips of the event (archived links here and here).
Responding to the posts, the singer told AFP: “I did not attend the recent oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad.”
A Detroit woman is suing the city and a police detective after she was falsely arrested due to facial recognition technology while 8-months pregnant, according to court documents.
Porcha Woodruff, 32, was getting her two children ready for school on the morning of February 16 when six police officers showed up at her doorstep and presented her with an arrest warrant for robbery and carjacking.
Woodruff initially believed the officers were joking given her visibly pregnant state. She was arrested and taken into custody.
Porcha Woodruff.Law Offices of Ivan L. Land, P.C.
“Ms. Woodruff later discovered that she was implicated as a suspect through a photo lineup shown to the victim of the robbery and carjacking, following an unreliable facial recognition match,” court documents state.
The victim told police that he met a woman on January 29 who he had sexual intercourse with. At some point in the day, they went to a BP gas station where the woman “interacted with several individuals,” per the lawsuit.
They then left to another location where the victim was robbed and carjacked at gunpoint by a man who the woman had interacted with earlier at the BP gas station. The victim told police his phone was returned to the gas station two days later.
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in the Eastern District of Michigan, names Detective LaShauntia Oliver as a defendant, who was assigned to the case.
When Oliver learned that a woman had returned the victim’s phone to the gas station, she allegedly ran facial technology on the video footage, which identified her as Woodruff.
“Detective Oliver stated in detail in her report what she observed in the video footage, and there was no mention of the female suspect being pregnant,” the lawsuit states.
When a man was arrested while driving the victim’s car on February 2, Oliver failed to show the suspect a picture of Woodruff, according to court documents.
The victim was also shown a lineup of potential suspects and identified Woodruff as the woman he was with when he was robbed. Oliver used an eight-year-old picture of Woodruff in the line up from an arrest in 2015, despite having access to her current driver’s license, according the lawsuit.
On the day the Woodruff was arrested, she and her fiancé urged officers to check the warrant to confirm if the woman who committed the crime was pregnant, which they refused to do, according to the lawsuit.
Woodruff was charged with robbery and carjacking and released from the Detroit Detention Center at around 7 p.m. on $100,000 personal bond.
Her fiancé took her to a medical center following her release where she was diagnosed with a low heart rate due to dehydration, and told she was having contractions from stress related to the incident.
On March 6, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office dropped the case against Woodruff for “insufficient evidence,” per the lawsuit.
Detroit Chief James E. White told NBC News he reviewed the allegations in the lawsuit, which he said are “very concerning.”
“We are taking this matter very seriously, but we cannot comment further at this time due to the need for additional investigation,” he said in a statement. “We will provide further information once additional facts are obtained and we have a better understanding of the circumstances.”
