FALSE: Cars and traffic lights did not melt following a heat wave in Kuwait
The photo of the melted car has been in circulation since 2018 while the image showing melted traffic lights was shared in July 2013
Images shared on Twitter claiming to show cars and traffic lights that melted as a result of high temperatures in Kuwait on June 15, 2019, is FALSE.
The tweet, which has been shared 595 times, adds that temperatures were as high as 65 degrees celsius on June 15.
However, a reverse image search shows that the first image was taken in June 2018 after a fire broke out at a construction site in Arizona as reported by Tuscon.com on June 19, 2018. More than 15 vehicles were damaged in the fire incident.
A reverse image search of the melted traffic light shows that it was first shared in July 2013 after a vehicle caught fire after hitting the traffic light pole in Kuwait.
This is not the first time that the claim has been shared on social media. On June 22, 2018 a Twitter user shared an image of the vehicle with a melted back bumper and insinuated that it was as a result of increased temperatures in Arizona, USA. The image was also shared on Facebook on June 5, 2019, claiming to show a melted car in Saudi Arabia.
PesaCheck has looked into the claim that cars and traffic lights melted in Kuwait due to high temperatures on June 15, 2019 and finds it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook?Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck researcher Albert Mwangeka, was edited by PesaCheck Content Editor Ann Ngengere and was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visitpesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is a joint initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with additional funding support from the International Budget Partnership (Kenya) and Twaweza, in partnership with a coalition of local media organisations, and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).
