This week’s terror attacks in France has been horrific and shocking, so I understand why people pick up some of the emotive stuff on this site and respond with strong feelings. But beware of being too hasty as there’s lots of false info out there. Four examples:

1/ The Avignon attacker was initially reported as saying “Allahu Akbar”. It turns out he was a far right activist in a “Defend Europe” sweatshirt, but oddly the correction has not circulated as widely as the first story. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/france-terror-avignon-attack-stabbing-police-shooting-nice-today-b1420399.html

2/ Video purporting to be Avignon attack are circulating online that are actually Grenoble a year ago. (Lots of folk think “ISCResearch” is a reliable source as it has “research” in its name. It isn’t; it’s a retired guy in Germany with a Wordpress blog.) https://twitter.com/mtholroyd/status/1321774951985274885?s=21

3/ Another shady website has claimed that Syrian group Jaish al Islam has called for attacks in France - and has been heavily RTed. Arabic readers can tell you that the statement they published a screenshot of says almost exactly the opposite: it condemns terrorist attacks.

4/ Lebanese accounts have claimed that French police have said the Nice attacker was a member of Jaish al Islam, widely repeated by European far right tweeters. But this hasn’t been mentioned by a single French source and is almost certainly fake news.