Pagers and walkie-talkies used by members of the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon exploded last week leaving dozens of people dead and thousands more injured. While the attacks that are widely believed to have been carried out by Israel have generated a lot of media coverage around the world, some social media users claimed the devices used in the attacks were made by Motorola. This is false. Although it remains unclear where the pagers that exploded were manufactured, photos of devices recovered from the explosions had markings that matched products from Taiwanese company Gold Apollo.
The claim was widespread on X, formerly known as Twitter, in the aftermath of the explosions. A said the devices used in the Lebanon attacks were made by United Stated-based electronics company Motorola.
"Impressive by IDF hitting Hezbollah with pager detonations today. Many members injured. Looks like Motorola phones and pagers were planted with explosives," the post said.
Another also claimed the pagers that exploded were made by Motorola.
Rating: False
A close look at appearing to show the remains of a pager that exploded in Lebanon reveals the markings of Taiwanese company Gold Apollo. The word "Gold" appears on the back of one of the exploded pagers and the letters "AR" appears next to the model name, which suggests it's pager model.
of the pager's remains shows it was first posted online on Sept. 17, the same day the Lebanon attacks took place.
Another shared online of a pager apparently used in the attack can also be matched to the AR-924 model.
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø could not find any confirmed images or other evidence tying the rigged pagers to either Motorola Solutions or Motorola Mobility, the two companies that spun off from Motorola Inc. in 2011.
Electronics manufacturer Gold Apollo in Taiwan on Sept. 18 the AR-924 pager model is produced and sold by a firm in Budapest, Hungary.
"Gold Apollo Co., Ltd. has established a long-term partnership with BAC CONSULTING KFT … . According to the cooperation agreement, we authorize BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in designated regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are solely the responsibility of BAC," the company said.
"Regarding the AR-924 pager model mentioned in the recent media reports, we clarify that this model is produced and sold by BAC. Our company only provides the brand trademark authorization and is not involved in the design or manufacturing of this product."
BAC Consulting chief executive Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono a day after the first attack that her company worked with Gold Apollo, but denied that her company made the pagers.
Zoltán Kovács, a spokesperson for the Hungarian prime minister, that the Hungarian government has confirmed BAC Consulting is a "trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary."
"It has one manager registered at its declared address, and the referenced devices have never been in Hungary," he said.
Kovács wrote that "Hungarian national security services are cooperating with all relevant international partner agencies and organizations" for the investigation, and that the case poses no national security risk to Hungary.
Sources
Claim can be can be found on X () and Facebook ()
Images of the remains of exploded pagers were shared on X () and ()
of a destroyed pager
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