False social media posts are hindering earthquake relief efforts in Turkey. You can help stop that | Abbas Panjwani

Online misinformation exploits victims' traumatic experiences, and factcheckers need support as they work to debunk it

A video shared on social media shows a column of thick smoke billowing from a harbour-side building before a cataclysmic explosion. The caption says it is, incredibly, footage of a nuclear power plant in Turkey exploding after the earthquake that ravaged the country.

Except Turkey doesn't have any operational nuclear power plants. The footage actually shows a fertiliser storage facility in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, exploding in 2020.

Abbas Panjwani is assistant editor at Full Fact, an independent charity of factcheckers and campaigners

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