1. New Zealand gunman hoax

A video purporting to show prisoners beating the alleged New Zealand mosque gunman after he was arrested in March 2019 was viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Facebook and YouTube. But the video in fact showed an accused terrorist, Carlos Larmond, being beaten in a Canadian prison in 2015. One of the misleading Facebook posts, which included an Indonesian-language caption, was shared more than six thousand times.

2. Indonesia false blog

Ahead of Indonesia's general election, scheduled for April this year, a blog post resembling a major Indonesian media group's website suggested regional leaders "must do whatever President Joko Widodo wants." But the blog, despite its resemblance to Indonesian news site Tribunnews, had no connection to the media organisation. The blog post had copied a report by a different Indonesian website and added a misleading headline. The original blog post has since been removed but screenshots of it continue to be shared on social media.

3. Nigeria death hoax

A strange story went viral during Nigeria's presidential election. After President Muhammadu Buhari was declared the winner, a photograph of a man celebrating the victory by immersing himself in a drain and drinking the dirty water went viral. A few days later, the same man was falsely reported to have died from stomach problems. But AFP spoke to Ali Mohammed Sani, who confirmed he was alive and well.

4. Philippine bridges

A Facebook post shared photos of bridges alongside references to a planned infrastructure project in the Philippines. A reverse image search on Google and Tineye found all seven photos in the misleading posts were taken outside the Philippines. They actually showed bridges in France, Greece, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan and the United States. Comments on the post showed that some users believed the images showed a bridge in the Philippines -- although other commenters raised doubts over the veracity of the claim. Construction of the planned Philippine bridge has not yet begun.

5. Iron Man photos

Photos of American actor Robert Downey Jr. wearing prosthetic makeup on the set of the 2008 film Iron Man were shared tens of thousands of times on Urdu-language Facebook pages alongside claims that they showed a dying heart transplant patient. Facebook users who shared the photo, which showed the actor wearing a circular mechanical device attached to his chest, were told Facebook would donate one rupee to the man for a life-saving operation. But the claims were false. US makeup artist Jamie Kelman confirmed to AFP that he took the images in 2007 on the set of Iron Man in Los Angeles, California.

1. http://u.afp.com/NZjail

2. http://u.afp.com/INDreport

3. http://u.afp.com/gutterwater

4. http://u.afp.com/PHbridge

5. http://u.afp.com/PakHeart