Hackers did not project the Soviet Victory banner on Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate this week

CLAIM: Images show the Soviet Victory banner projected by hackers onto the east side of Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Tuesday night, prior to annual festivities celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The images were fabricated. Berlin police and the company that manages the Brandenburg Gate confirmed to The Associated Press that the Soviet Victory banner did not appear this week on the monument, one of Germany’s most significant landmarks.

THE FACTS: Social media users shared photos and videos that made it appear the banner was being projected onto the Brandenburg Gate ahead of this week’s commemorative celebrations.

“Last night, hackers breached the projection on the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and put the Soviet Victory Banner,” reads one X post that had received approximately 21,000 likes and more than 5,300 shares as of Friday.

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