CLAIM: A map shows that Poland has not been the target of any terror attacks, the lack of which is a result of the country’s “strict no-migrants policy.”
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The map, built by the Center for Strategic and International Studies using the University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database, only includes terror attacks from 2012 through 2015. While the database does not have records of any terror attacks in Poland during that period, it shows there have been 42 from 1971 through 2020. Additionally, Poland is open to migrants as a member of the European Union. Regardless, the map does not prove migrants are the cause of the attacks in neighboring countries, and experts say the data shows they are in fact more likely to be victims of terror than perpetrators.
THE FACTS: A screenshot of the map spread online in recent days alongside erroneous claims that it shows a link between Poland’s migration policies and low levels of terrorism.
Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: A clip of President Joe Biden purportedly admitting to selling “state secrets” was edited to omit when he said he was joking.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Meat grown in labs is made using cells taken from animals, but those cells are not cancerous and there are many safeguards in place to ensure that the end product is safe to consume, experts told The Associated Press. The false claim stems from the fact that, like cancer cell
CLAIM: Rare malaria cases reported in Florida and Texas recently were caused by a disease-control initiative backed by Bill Gates that involved releasing genetically modified mosquitoes in the U.S.
“Here is a map of terror attacks in Europe,” one tweet states. “Poland has a strict no-migrants policy. Draw your own conclusions.” It had received more than 41,300 likes and more than 11,000 shares by Wednesday.
But such claims are misrepresenting this data, Poland’s immigration policies, and the relationship between terrorism and migration, experts say.
It is true that CSIS’ map does not show any terror attacks in Poland. However, it only shows attacks recorded in the Global Terrorism Database over a four-year period, from 2012 through 2015. The database has records of attacks from 1970 through 2020. During that time, Poland has seen 42 terror attacks, including six that occurred after 2015.
CSIS did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Erin Miller, program manager of the Global Terrorism Database, told the AP that using the map to make a wider point about migration and terrorism is a flawed premise given how selective the data is.
“That happens to be a period where we don’t have attacks recorded in Poland, but that’s not a very comprehensive look at the database that we have,” she said.
While Poland does have lower levels of migration than other countries in the European Union, it doesn’t have a “no-migrants policy.” As a member of the EU, Poland must adhere to freedom of movement rights, which allow EU citizens and their families to reside freely in member countries.
Poland issued 14,386 temporary residence permits in 2020, mostly for people from Ukraine and Belarus, and naturalized 7,501 people. As of late May 2023, approximately 1.6 million Ukrainian refugees from the Russia-Ukraine war were registered for temporary protection in Poland, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
Regardless, the map doesn’t show that terror attacks in the countries with higher migration rates were perpetrated by migrants, as the posts suggest, noted Miller.
“A dot representing a terrorist attack on a map doesn’t inherently provide any information or support any conclusions about who is responsible for the violence,” she said.
In fact, she added, most terror attacks are carried out by “domestic assailants,” and immigrants are more likely to be victims than perpetrators.
The interactive CSIS map includes numerous examples of such attacks on migrants, and the entire Global Terrorism Database includes more than 150 attacks that targeted refugees and asylum-seekers in Western Europe over the past decade — a figure Miller said is considered to be “extremely conservative.”
Countries that experience an influx of people do tend to have an increase in terrorist activities, said Daniel Meierrieks, a research fellow at the Berlin Social Science Center with expertise in international migration and terrorism. But that’s simply because more populous countries have more attacks, not because the migrants are the ones responsible, he added.
To the extent that there is a relationship to migration, especially in the case of people coming to Europe from non-European countries, it’s due to the attacks on the migrants — not by them, according to Meierrieks and Richard McAlexander, a data analyst who studied terrorism and international borders as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
“When we think of terrorism and migration and their possible relationship, it’s that migrants are very often, or much more often or likely, to be the victims of terrorism rather than the perpetrators,” McAlexander said. “You’re in a new country. You’ve suffered some trauma. You’re in a precarious position. And the last thing you want to do is jeopardize all of that.”
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
