Facts Matter: Beer-smuggling photo not from World Cup in Qatar

Just before the World Cup was set to open in Qatar, officials there banned the sale of beer at the stadiums. Some social media users appeared to show how fans were getting around the rules.

A photo of an officer peeling off a Pepsi label that was covering a beer can is included with the comment, "Interesting: Fans smuggling beer into Qatar #FIFAWorldCup," in a post that appeared on Facebook and Twitter.

The photo is from an incident of someone trying to smuggle beer cans by disguising them as Pepsi cans, but it has nothing to do with the recent World Cup games, according to The Associated Press.

The photo is from November 2015 news articles about an attempt to smuggle 48,000 cans of beer, each covered with a Pepsi label, across the Saudi Arabia-United Arab Emirates border. The photo was released by Saudi Arabia's customs officials, and the officer in the image can be seen wearing a Saudi Customs badge on his arm.

Alley didn't fake her death

After a death, surviving family members go through a grieving period. If the dead person was a celebrity, the family often must also deal with offensive posts and misinformation.

The family of Kirstie Alley issued a statement on Dec. 5 to announce the actress' death "after a battle with cancer, only recently discovered."

An Instagram user had something to say about that.

"Was waiting to have time to do this death faker #kirstiealley is a MAN. That's a MAN baby! And don't worry they just faked their death," PolitiFact reported the post as saying.

No, it wasn't fake. Alley died from colon cancer.

"She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending joy of living and whatever adventures lie ahead," Alley's children posted on Twitter.

Musk not eying Snapchat

Now that billionaire Elon Musk has settled in after his purchase of Twitter, images on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok show a tweet that appears to telegraph his next move.

"Next I'm buying Snapchat and deleting all of the filters. Welcome back to reality ladies," reads the text in an image that appears to be a screenshot of a tweet from Musk.

That post was shared more than 4,000 times while similar posts appeared across social media.

But this tweet is false. There are no credible reports that Musk is "buying, attempting to buy or thinking about buying Snapchat," according to USA Today.

Musk's official Twitter account doesn't include any posts similar to this one. His only mention of Snapchat was in a May 26 tweet about stock values and Snapchat.

The font and text formatting in the fake image also don't match Twitter's style.

Curry didn't hit 5 full-court shots

Stephen Curry, a two-time MVP for the Golden State Warriors, is known for hitting long shots. A recent video posted by Sports Illustrated, which was viewed more than 28 million times on social media, shows Curry sinking five consecutive full-court shots.

"Steph Gonna STEPH," read a tweet from the Warriors.

But the video was manipulated, according to The Associated Press. Warriors Senior Vice President of Communications Raymond Ridder told the AP the clip was "not real."

The video was issued on Dec. 4 by Sports Illustrated ahead of its naming Curry its 2022 Sportsperson of the Year. The post included the comment "This dude just can't miss."

Two days later Sports Illustrated admitted the video "is, in fact, not real."

"We had some fun with it," Curry told reporters. "I did make two of them, though, just in case anybody was wondering."

"He could do that, but not five in a row," Warriors coach Steve Kerr told the AP.

• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.