Everything Fact Crescendo has published, newest first. srilanka.factcrescendo.com
Our investigation found that the claim that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has introduced a new Rs. 10,000 note is false. The viral image was created by editing a Rs. 1,000 note, while a second image showing President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on a Rs. 10,000 note was generated with Google Gemini.
Our fact-check found that the viral video claiming a baby in Ecuador was born with a thick black moustache does not show a real event. The video was created or edited using artificial intelligence.
Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero was not brought into the courtroom on October 23, 2026, but he was produced in the case online, after the court allowed a motion filed by the prison. According to the Minister's media secretary, the Kotte chapter advised that the robes must be restored by the Mahanayake Theros and, as there was not enough time, asked that he be produced online. We did not receive a response from the Kotte chapter.
The viral clip suggesting that Ven. Balangoda Kassapa Thero, speaking at the monks' protest at Viharamahadevi Park for Gnanasara Thero's release, said he would "split the President's head into seven pieces" is misleading. It was cut from a full 4-minute 43-second video on his own Facebook page.
Our fact check found the viral story false. Saudi Arabia did execute two Bangladeshi nationals, Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir and Sweety (Siti) Akhtar, on October 14, 2026, over an unspecified "indecent act" in a Makkah mosque. But they were cleaners held in Saudi custody since August 2023 and were not married to each other, and no official or family source describes a kiss, a honeymoon, or a Pakistani informer. The only Pakistani in the record is a co-worker Nazrul's relatives accused of conspiring against him.
Our fact-check found that the social media posts claiming President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was hospitalized due to a sudden illness are false and were created to mislead the public. The posts used the Newsfirst logo, but Newsfirst confirmed it never published them.
The posts are misleading. They presented photos from an official visit eight months ago, February 23 to 27, 2026, as a recent and "sudden" arrival. Swami Kailashanand Giri, presiding seer of the Niranjani Akhada rather than an Ayodhya temple priest, came at the Tourism Ministry's invitation to promote the Ramayana and Shiva pilgrimage routes, as the Tourism Promotion Bureau, the Northern Provincial Council, the Indian High Commission and the Minister's media secretary confirmed.
The posts claiming that Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya said the Anuradhapura sacred city belongs not only to Buddhists but to all Sri Lankans are fake cards that misuse the BBC Sinhala brand. BBC Sinhala published no such report, and the Prime Minister's coordinator, S. Wijitha Basnayake, confirmed that the cards are fabrications.
Posts claiming that the Police Media Spokesperson announced that everyone who shares 'vas kavi' on social media would be punished under the law, and that the CID was moving to arrest the monk who composed the verse, are completely false. Police Media Spokesperson Frederick U. Wootler confirmed to Fact Crescendo that he made no such statement and that no such arrests are planned.
Posts claiming that Kawanthissa was shot by a Pohottuwa (SLPP) member are misleading. Court reporters say one arrested suspect sits on the Galgamuwa cooperative board on the SLPP side, but neither the Police nor the SLPP has officially confirmed this, and the SLPP says a cooperative post is not a party post. More importantly, there was no evidence that either suspect shot Kawanthissa was placed before the Maho Magistrate's Court on October 19, and the Magistrate herself asked what that evidence was. Calling a suspect "the man who shot Kawanthissa" assigns guilt before trial.
The viral photo said to show tusker Kawanthissa's eight calves actually shows a wild elephant herd, mothers included, filmed by drone near Kunming in China's Yunnan province on June 7, 2021. The match with the AP and CGTN footage from that day is exact.
The claim is false. The picture of French police arresting a protester in a Pink Panther costume was altered with AI from a photo taken in Paris on May 31, 2025, the night PSG won the Champions League. The water cannon scene was made from a photo of a June 25, 2025 protest in Nairobi, Kenya. An artist who openly uses AI first posted the images on October 8, 2026, nine days before the major protests.
The social media posts claiming that Agbo was shot on the night of October 17, 2026 are false.
Our fact-check found that a suspect was indeed arrested with firearms, live ammunition, and hand grenades in Kirindiwela on October 17, 2026. However, he is not the brother of SJB MP Harshana Rajakaruna. The MP has no brother, as his written statement made clear, and the 2011 Daily News report on his father's death confirms it. The MP told us the suspect is the son of his cousin.
Our fact-check found that the video of protesters forcing their way into Marseille town hall on October 17, 2026, during France's escalating protests, was genuine, and media reported that they shouted, "We are taking the Bastille." However, it was a brief entry into the ground-floor hall by several dozen people, not a seizure of the building. Some carried Palestinian flags, but no media outlet identified them as a pro-Palestinian group, and Marseille's mayor described the intruders as rioters and black blocs. There was no evidence of antifa graffiti either; the symbol on the wall was the anarchist circled "A." Presenting the incident as "pro-Palestinian supporters' storm and seize Marseille town hall" is therefore misleading.
Our fact-check found that the posts circulating after the death of tusker Kawanthissa, attributed to Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, journalist Tharindu Jayawardhana, the Galgamuwa Divisional Secretary and the Environment Minister, were a series of fabrications.
Our fact-check shows that the claim that Gnanasara Thero is in prison merely for speaking up for war heroes is misleading. It is true that, at the Homagama Magistrate's Court, he tried to speak on behalf of the army intelligence officers remanded over the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda. However, he was jailed not for his views on war heroes but for undermining the independence of the court, pressuring a judge, and breaking the law of the land. The Court of Appeal convicted him of contempt of court in 2018 and sentenced him to six years' rigorous imprisonment.
A Facebook comment that was online for less than 10 minutes put a young engineer from Kalmunai on death row in Saudi Arabia. For every Sri Lankan family with a son or daughter working in the Gulf, the case of Sivarasa Anojan became a frightening less
Our fact-check found the WhatsApp claim false. It said that calling 108 after a snakebite would bring an ambulance that gives Snake Venom Antiserum I.P. to the patient's home.
Ven. Thittagalle Anandasiri Thero's claim that a JVP sympathizer attacked a man helping the walk for Gnanasara Thero's release with a helmet is misleading, according to the Sri Lanka Police statement and the Weeragula OIC.
