The Lochaber food bank in Fort William claims energy multinational SSE tried to "rip them off". After a year of fighting – and questions from The Ferret – it has received an apology. But it's still being charged more than £10k.
Following a sharp rise in far right activity, we’ve spent the last three months attending protests, speaking to activists under threat, and tracking anti-asylum seeker demonstrations across Scotland.
Scotland’s largest university has turned to Nous Group at the same time as it is making savings that could lead to nearly 2,000 job losses. Staff say they were misled about the extent of its work.
Nigel Farage has gained significant media coverage during the election, with his Reform Party gaining ground on the Conservatives in opinion polls.
A widely-shared video on TikTok allegedly showed Farage streaming himself playing Minecraft, and destroying Keir Starmer’s castle base in the sandbox-style video game.
Nigel Farage streamed himself playing Minecraft and destroying Keir Starmer’s base.
Ferret Fact Service is working with YoungScot to get to the truth behind election claims suggested by young people.
We looked at this claim and found it False
The video, titled “Nigel griefs Kiers [sic] minecraft base” shows Farage playing the game Minecraft while streaming himself on screen. It has nearly 80,000 likes and 25,000 shares on TikTok.
‘Griefing’ is a term used in the gaming world for someone who intentionally trolls and annoys other players in multiplayer online games.
Farage appears to say he had previously “logged on to Rishi [Sunak]’s Minecraft server and managed to find and destroy his house,” the subject of an earlier satirical video by the same account. The video goes on to show him blowing up part of Keir Starmer’s castle base on the game. The video then cuts to Keir Starmer streaming, reacting to an explosion in his base and blaming it on Rishi Sunak.
The video has been created using artificial intelligence to manipulate videos of Farage and Starmer so it appears as though they are saying words produced by an AI audio generator.
The account that posted the video has numerous others with similar content, including AI-created videos of Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak playing Minecraft.
The videos are labelled as satire by the account, but numerous comments suggested viewers appeared to believe it was real.
There are a few telltale signs this is fake. Firstly, it’s incredibly unlikely. There are no original sources of the pair playing Minecraft on any streaming site beyond this clip and others on the same account.
Nigel Farage’s video seems to have been taken from an appearance on the radio station LBC, and a microphone from the station is visible.
The way his mouth moves in line with the audio is slightly unusual, and appears to be unnatural.
AI audio is getting more common and it is very easy to create realistic audio of people who often appear in the public eye, like politicians, because audio material of them speaking, which is used to train the AI, will be publicly available.
Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak have been regularly used in fake AI audio before, such as a clip of Starmer allegedly criticising the city of Liverpool.
This video has been skillfully created using artificial intelligence to replicate Nigel Farage and Keir Starmer’s voices and likeness. It is intended to be satirical, imagining what it would be like if party leaders were streaming playing Minecraft.
This fact check was written on the suggestion of Young Scot, a national youth information and citizenship charity for 11 to 25 year olds living in Scotland. This collaboration aims to engage with and hear from young Scots, particularly focusing on the interests and concerns of young voters.
Ferret Fact Service (FFS) is a non-partisan fact checker, and signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network fact-checkers’ code of principles.
All the sources used in our checks are publicly available and the FFS fact-checking methodology can be viewed here.
Want to suggest a fact check?
Email us at factcheck@theferret.scot or join our Facebook group.
As the general election approaches, The Ferret is diving deep into the influence of conspiracy theories, disinformation, and culture wars on political discourse. Have you come across falsehoods or conspiracies shared by candidates, political parties, or viral memes? We want to hear from you! Get in touch at contact@theferret.scot, and we will take a look.
Help us continue our vital work by becoming a Ferret member today or making a one-off donation. Your support enables us to hold power to account and keep the truth at the forefront of the election conversation.
Main image: Gage Skidmore
Government names areas being assessed for new munitions plants after The Ferret uncovers hidden details in a botched FoI response.
A Russian oligarch praised by Vladimir Putin has amassed a UK property portfolio under the veil of secretive offshore trusts, The Ferret can reveal. Anti-corruption campaigners say our investigation is a “shocking indictment” of the UK’s “dirty money” defences.
Hundreds of protected areas are under pressure from Scotland’s massive deer herd. Most agree deer numbers must be controlled to protect the environment, but are split on what should be done.
Edinburgh University students were “interrogated” by police at their desks over posters featuring Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, prompting dozens to complain.
