Has CNN released a billboard advertisement in New York City saying "Kyiv is all over"? No, that's not true: A CNN representative told Lead Stories that CNN never produced such an ad, and Lead Stories found no evidence that the ad shown in videos on social media ever existed.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on the TikTok account @alexandr_turner on December 10, 2023. It was also shared by the account @lora621308 here (archived here) and @alkor78 here (archived here). Russian media outlets have spread this claim, as seen here (archived here), here (archived here), and here (archived here).
The text overlay on the video (translated from Russian to English by Lead Stories staff) said:
CNN channel bids farewell to Kyiv with the help of an advertising billboard in New York. So, is this the end? 'It's all over with Kyiv. Will the Russians stop at this?'
Below is how the post appeared on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Dec 7 10:56:31 2023 UTC)
On December 12, 2023, Alex Manasseri, senior communications manager at CNN, responded to Lead Stories' inquiry regarding this claim by email:
This this is not a CNN produced ad and is completely fake.
As purported evidence, social media users have circulated footage (archived here) depicting what looks like an electronic billboard in Times Square in New York City, with a scrolling message related to the conflict in Ukraine. It reads:
CNN:
KYIV IS ALL OVER. WILL THE RUSSIANS STOP THERE OR GO FURTHER? DISCOVER THIS AND MORE ON POLITICAL BRIEFING.
This seems to be an ad for CNN Political Briefing, a CNN podcast on politics. Lead Stories found no such advertisement on CNN's official website (archived here) or social media accounts. The authenticity of the video has not been independently verified.
A reverse image search on Google Lens (archived here) and a search for the phrases "CNN: Kyiv is all over. Will the Russians stop there or go further?" (archived here) or "CNN released billboard advertisement declaring Kyiv is all over" (archived here) conducted on December 13, 2023, using Google News' index of credible news sites did not yield any evidence-based reports on these claims.
