FOCUS OF FACT: Associated Press video manipulated to make it appear that Slovakian flags were banned from a football match

Video manipulated from an Associated Press report that circulated the day before the game between Slovakia and Ukraine in this year’s edition European Championship, with the false claim that Slovak flags were banned from all games due to their similarity to the Russian flag.

“UEFA banned the Russian flag from being flown at all Ukrainian national team games at Euro 2024, after some of them were hung in the stands at other games,” says the voiceover made to sound like an AP reporter. “Security staff will seize Russian flags from all fans, regardless of the rival’s country. It also became known that the ban will also apply to Slovak flags in the upcoming game with Ukraine. The organizers claim that the Slovak flag is very similar to the Russian one, which could cause provocations against Ukrainians.”

There is no such video and the AP has not reported that there is a ban on Slovak flags at the football tournament.

Here are the facts.

CLAIM: A video shows an AP report that says Slovak flags will be banned from Euro 2024 games due to their similarity to the Russian flag.

THE FACTS: The 33-second video was created using fabricated audio combined with a real AP video about the Tesla shareholder vote.

In the video, footage from Euro 2024 is shown over what is supposedly a voiceover from AP reporter Tom Krisher. After about 28 seconds, Krisher appears on the screen. The voiceover states that given the flags’ similarities, Slovak flags will not be allowed into the tournament.

Both flags have white, blue and red horizontal stripes positioned in the same order. The flag of Slovakia also includes the country’s coat of arms on the left side.

But the video was fabricated. The AP did not report that there is such a ban.

“The video circulating on social media is not an AP video and features a fake and manipulated clip of an AP employee,” AP spokeswoman Nicole Meir wrote in an email. “The AP did not report on UEFA’s ban on Slovak flags.”

The filming by Krisher was taken from an AP video published June 13 about a Tesla shareholder vote to restore CEO Elon Musk’s $44.9 billion pay package, which was rejected by a Delaware judge earlier this year . Krisher covers the auto industry for the AP, Meir confirmed.

After Russian flags were displayed in the stands at other matches, UEFA said security staff would attempt to intercept and remove Russian flags displayed at the Munich stadium, where Ukraine faced Romania on Monday afternoon in their first match of the season. Euro 2024. the AP reported.

Russian teams were banned by UEFA from international competitions just days after the full military invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022.

German authorities previously said they only wanted to allow the flags of participating teams to be flown into stadiums and official fan zones that broadcast games on big screens in the 10 host cities.

___

This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information circulating online. Learn more about fact checking at AP.