November 2015 Paris attack, hoaxes and rumours

ByCraig Haley

As is often the case with breaking news events, a series of hoaxes and rumours have begun spreading across the Internet regarding the Paris attacks that occurred on Friday, 13th November 2015.

These hoaxes have been started for a number of reasons, often by confusion or the result of miscommunication. Some appear to be hoaxes started by pranksters looking to spread misinformation for reasons unknown, others may be started by scammers for financial gain.

We list the current hoaxes spreading here.

Peace for Paris symbol created by Banksy?

paris-attacks-peace-symbol

A symbol that has been adopted by the Internet as a symbol to show support for the people of Paris that depicts the Eiffel Tower within a circle (above) has become popular on social media, and there are rumours that the symbol was created by popular British graffiti artist Banksy.

However it was not. It appears to have been created by artist Jean Jullien. Rumours that it was created by Banksy appeared to have been fuelled when a spoof account with the Banksy name published the symbol. However that Twitter account does not belong to Banksy and in the past has published a number of works that have nothing to do with him.
https://twitter.com/jean_jullien/status/665305363500011521/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

10,000 Syrian refugees in New Orleans?

Claims that 10,000 refugees from Syria have arrived in New Orleans only days after the Paris attacks are misleading. A variety of right-wing sites have used an image (below) that actually turned out to be a photo of refugees in Hungary and claimed they were from the United States.

syrian-refugees

It is true that the United States will accept 10,000 refugees, these will arrive steadily over the 2016 fiscal year, and there have been no reports that a large number of refugees from Syria have just arrived in New Orleans. Additionally, local news reports in New Orleans have themselves debunked the rumour.

We have a full article on this story here.

Escaped Paris terrorists shot by police?

A video spreading online that claims to show three of the Paris attackers shot by police is spreading online. It shows three injured/dead men next to (or inside) a crashed car, surrounded by police. However the video actually shows the aftermath of a bank robbery in Brazil. We have a full article on this here.

Donald Trump and his gun control Tweet

Claims that Donald Trump made an insensitive anti-gun control tweet after the Paris attacks are also false. Though the tweet really was made by Trump, it was tweeted in response to the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January 2015, not after the Friday 13th Paris attacks in November 2015.

The Tweet is still live and as you can see the date is January 7th 2015.

 

The Paris attacks were predicted on a site called JeuxVideo

paris-attacks-prediction

A screenshot spreading that shows a post made on 5th November on JeuxVideo that apparently predicts that shootings in Paris would happen claiming that “probably over a 100” people would be killed is false. It was digitally manipulated.

The real post is still live and can be seen here and has nothing to do with the shootings.

Friday 13th a day to remember:

paris-attacks-friday13

A message claiming that a series of terrible events happened on Friday 13th November is spreading that purports events like 18 thousand people died in Japan in an earthquake occurred this day as well as the Paris attacks.

However this claim is false. Whilst an earthquake did occur in Japan, causalities were limited. The 18 thousand number was taken from the 2011 Japan earthquake. More details on this hoax on our article here.

Not Afraid gathering in Paris

A photo that shows a large gathering of people with a “Not Afraid” sign visible in the crowd is spreading along with the caption that this is Paris “right now”.

It’s not. It was taken in January 2015, after the Charlie Hebdo attacks.


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Eiffel Tower goes dark to honor the dead

paris-attacks-eiffel-tower

Claims that the Eiffel Tower has turned its light off to honor the people who died during the Paris Attacks are false (UPDATE: The tower has since turned its light off). The iconic tower turns its lights off every evening at 1am. A video showing Sky News footage showing the lights turning off was after the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

 

A photo from the Bataclan before the shooting

This photo purports to show the Bataclan just prior to the shooting. It doesn’t. It shows the band that did perform at the Bataclan, but at when the photos was taken they were performing in Ireland days before going to Paris.

Germany Stand with France march

A picture that claims to show Germans marching in solidarity with France was actually taken during an anti-immigration march in January 2015 from a group called Pegida.