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Please note that the FactCheckHub has not obtained any right from the authors or copyright owners of all third-party contents from embedded links and shall incur no liability in this regard.
Please note that the FactCheckHub has not obtained any right from the authors or copyright owners of all third-party contents from embedded links and shall incur no liability in this regard.
Please note that the FactCheckHub has not obtained any right from the authors or copyright owners of all third-party contents from embedded links and shall incur no liability in this regard.
ON August 19, 2021, FactCheckHub received a post shared on WhatsApp alleging that the Ugandan President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, said a gay couple would remain in jail until one gets pregnant.
The message which appears to be a screenshot of a tweet reads: “Two Ugandan gay couple have been jailed for unknown term, President Museveni says till one gets pregnant that’s when they will be released.”
The text was accompanied by a photo of Museveni.
THE CLAIM
Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni says jailed gay couple will regain freedom only if one gets pregnant.
THE FINDINGS
An internet search revealed that the claim has been in circulation since 2020; it was published by a Somali platform, archived here. The claim was also published by Opera News and in April 2021 by a blog, 9jaBlitz.
Since 1986, Museveni has been the president of Uganda.
Using the Google Reverse Image Search, Musveni’s photo attached to the claim was traced to an article dated February 24, 2014, and authored by Rodney Muhumuza for the Associated Press (AP) and published on The Christian Science Monitor.
The report detailed the ban on homosexuality in Uganda. It was the signing into law, anti-homosexuality bill by Museveni. The parliament had earlier passed the bill in December 2013.
Rebecca Vassie shot Museveni’s photograph for the AP during the signing, with the caption, “Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni signs a new anti-gay bill that sets harsh penalties for homosexual sex, in Entebbe, Uganda Monday, Feb. 24, 2014.”
The claim.
Three months after the enacted anti-gay law dubbed “killed the gays”, AP reported how two Ugandans were charged for flouting the newly enacted law.
The report says the trial was the first of its kind against homosexuals in the African country. The UK Guardian identified the gay couple as Jackson Musaka and Kim Mukisa.
However, in the same 2014, the anti-gay law was later annulled by the Ugandan Supreme Court. As at when the posts were published, Uganda had no anti-gay laws. The closest to that is the Sexual Offenses Bill, 2019, which was passed by the Parliament in early May 2021 and awaiting presidential assent.
Furthermore, aside from blogs, no mainstream local media or international media reported the claim attributed to Museveni.
The FactCheckHub reached out via email to the author of the Opera News article; there was no reply after four days.
The judiciary in Uganda is responsible for the interpretation and application of the law, and not the President who is an executive.
THE VERDICT
There is no evidence to validate the claim that President Museveni of Uganda said a jailed gay couple will be released only when one gets pregnant. Thus, the claim is FALSE.
FACEBOOK has removed 18 million posts containing misinformation about COVID-19, the founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg told “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King in an exclusive interview that misinformation is against his platform’s policy, hence why harmful misinformation is always removed once seen.
“But do we catch everything? Of course, there are mistakes that we make or areas where we need to improve. But that’s the best number that we have in terms of what we’ve seen and what our systems have been able to detect,” he said.
“But how many people have viewed the misinformation? Is it more than 18 million? Is it less than 18 million?”, asked the interviewer.
To which Zuckerberg replied “I understand what you’re saying, the number that I have off the top of my head that I can share is the number of pieces of misinformation that we’ve taken action against.”
Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms have been criticized for the spread of misinformation, especially regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S President Joe Biden in July accused Facebook and other social media platforms of “killing people” by enabling the spread of COVID-19 misinformation but later clarified that he meant that misinformation itself was causing deaths.
However, Facebook said they actually helped increase vaccine acceptance as people get to view authoritative information.
Many media reports claimed that the World Health Organization (WHO) has ranked Nigeria as the 4th best in COVID-19 response.
These media reports which are archived here,here and was also published by the Nigerian embassy in Sweden all attributed the claim to WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, a doctor, Walter Mulombo.
According to reports, Mulombo made the statement at an event on the arrival of the first consignment of 177,600 doses of the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine in Abuja.
“We are witnessing the symbolic arrival of 177,600 Johnson & Johnson vaccines, another landmark event in Nigeria’s response to COVID-19 pandemic; widely acclaimed by many as one of the most successful so far in the world.
“Nigeria was ranked fourth among the top ten most successful responses to COVID-19,” the statement attributed to Mulombo read.
In a swift reaction, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO), a group that supports and attempt to court goodwill for Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari celebrated the news, saying his fight against the pandemic was what necessitated the ranking.
In a statement signed by BMO Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, BMO noted President Buhari’s determination to safeguard the lives of Nigerians and residents alike during the pandemic
“We also note that President Muhammadu Buhari did not spare any resource in ensuring that the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 carried out its responsibilities without let or hindrance,” their statement react.
WHO debunks the claim
In a bid to verify the claim that Nigeria ranked 4th best in COVID-19 response, The FactCheckHub checked the WHO website but found nothing of such.
The FactCheckHub, however, reached out to the WHO spokesperson in Nigeria Charity Warigon, who clarified the issue.
“I wish to clarify that, WHO has not ranked countries in relation to COVID-19 response,” says Warigon.
2nd right, WHO Country Representative, Walter Mulombo at the arrival of Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Nigeria. Photo: WHO/Ogbeide E.
Warigon in a telephone conversation with The FactCheckHub said what the country representative meant was that the country was efficient in handling COVID-19
“The WHO Representative [Walter Mulombo] meant to say Nigeria mounted one of the most effective response to COVID-19, putting in place courageous measures and helping to avert the widespread that was predicted,” she added.
She added that “Some independent media analysis had previously presented a ranking for top 10 countries including Nigeria appearing on 4th position. It should be noted however that this is not a WHO ranking.”
In addition when WHO reported the same event on their website, archived here, the statement about the ranking was not including.
THE VERDICT
The claim that WHO ranked Nigeria 4th best in COVID-19 response is inaccurate and MISLEADING, the WHO communication officer in Nigeria said the ranking did not emanate from the organisation.
AS the world battle ongoing concerns around COVID-19 vaccine safety, side effects, vaccine hesitancy and refusal, a Twitter user posted that reports related to vaccine deaths are hushed.
The tweet which has over 470 engagements posted in July 2021 and archived here read “Have you noticed how quickly they report a death as a COVID-19 death, but ever so reluctant to tell us when a vaccine kills someone?”
The post generated comments with some alleging vaccines damages the immune system and another, alleging the virus with reference to the Lambda variant “is spreading fast” via water.
Does COVID-19 spread via water?
At the onset of the pandemic, there were fears and concerns that COVID-19 spread through water as such swimming wasn’t safe. However, the number one health body, the World Health Organizations (WHO) noted that the fears were unfounded.
Poster by the WHO.
The WHO clarified “Water or swimming does not transmit the COVID-19 virus”.
It further explained that “The COVID-19 virus does not transmit through water while swimming. However, the virus spreads between people when someone has close contact with an infected person.”
As such there was a need to maintain social distance from others while swimming and “wear a mask when you’re not in the water and you can’t stay distant”, this is in addition to adhering to other COVID-19 protocols.
Viruses change over time. The COVID-19 virus which is caused by SARS-CoV-2 is no different. Most Changes have negligible or no impact on the virus properties however some changes might affect how “it spreads, the associated disease severity, or the performance of vaccines” says The WHO.
To keep track of the changes in COVID-19 virus the Greek Alphabet was adopted. As of July 2021, the variant is at the 11th alphabet which is the Lambda.
However, this variant is not on the WHO’s Virus of Concern (VOCs) list but rather on the Virus of Interest (VOIs) list.
The emergence of variants that posed an increased risk to global public health are classed under the VOCs, this is in order to prioritise global monitoring and research, and ultimately to inform the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic says WHO.
Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta are the currently the VOCs while Epsilon, Zeta, Eta , Theta, Iota, Kappa and Lambda are VOIs
Even though Lambda is considered to have a potentially increased transmissibility, this spread was not noted to be via water.
… on vaccines deaths
As of August 5, 2021, the total number of COVID-19 cases worldwide surpassed 200 million, including over four million deaths, this was just six months after reaching 100 million cases.
Whereas as of 12 August 2021, the cumulative number of vaccine doses which have been administered surpassed 4.4 billion.
There have been several conspiracy theories and concerns that the vaccines are resulting to deaths and these deaths are high, hushed or not reported enough. Debunking one of such claims the U.S. Deputy director for Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Immunization Safety Office Tom Shimabukuro said it inaccurate to equate death after vaccine as caused by the vaccine.
The doctor noted that “Statements that imply that deaths following vaccination equate to deaths caused by vaccination are scientifically inaccurate, misleading, and irresponsible.”
A look at the multiple variations of such claims in circulation show that they were hinged albeit wrongly on data gotten from a U.S. government database called VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) where anyone in the U.S. can report adverse effects after receiving a vaccine.
A verification done in June on a series of posts claiming that the number of deaths related to vaccines may soon rival the number of deaths from COVID-19 are false according to a verification done by Reuters , as the “the large number wrongly described as ‘vaccine-related deaths’ in a series of online posts is the total number of reports that were made on VAERS”.
Another of such claim that the “death toll” of COVID-19 vaccines is more than 20 times higher than that of past vaccines was also found to be inaccurate.
There was also the claim attributed to a “whistleblower” that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is covering up at least 45,000 vaccine-related deaths this was also found to be inaccurate.
Similar claims were widely shared on Tiktok that there are tens of thousands of unreported deaths from the COVID-19 vaccine this was also found to be inaccurate by the BBC as it misrepresented data from the VAERS website.
Why the misrepresentation?
COVID-19 vaccines have a broader reporting requirement on VAERS as healthcare providers are expected to report all serious adverse health events, even if the provider does not think the vaccine caused that event.
These events can include death, inpatient hospitalisation among others. This reporting protocol is because the FDA authorised the COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, USA Today reports.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also clarified that the reports of adverse events to VAERS following vaccination, including deaths, do not necessarily mean that a vaccine caused a health problem.
A TWITTER user on Friday August 13, 2021 shared a picture of a tarred road claiming it emanated from Kaduna State in Nigeria.
The Twitter user with the handle @Mamatee001 in a tweet archived here said the road was constructed by Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai.Kad
The tweet read “This is not Canada but Kaduna. A road constructed by that man u hate @elrufai he is not sharing kerosene neither Is he giving wheel barrow but building future. A leader who excel even when some evil are bent in destroying his government. A great Man to study like encyclopedia.”
THE CLAIM
Picture shows tarred road in Kaduna state.
A screenshot of the tweet.
THE FINDINGS
Checks by The FactCheckHub show that the picture emanated from Pakistan and not Kaduna as claimed by the twitter user.
A Google reverse image search conducted by The FactCheckHub shows the image was on the internet before.
Similarly, a Google earth imagery search conducted by The FactCheckHub revealed that the picture is that of Hazara Motorway in Pakistan.
The google earth imagery picture of the Hazara Motorway.
Hazara Motorway, otherwise known as M-15 Motorway is a 180-kilometre controlled-access road motorway linking Brhan interchange near Hassan Abdal in Punjab province with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The road starts from Havelian and ends at Thakot.
THE VERDICT
The picture of tarred road shared by a Twitter user was constructed in Pakistan and not Kaduna thereby making the claim FALSE
To commemorate its one year anniversary, The FactCheckHub held a verification masterclass.
The masterclass titled, “How to identify and debunk misinformation,” took place on Zoom and Facebook on Tuesday, August 10, 2021.Here’s a recording of the session.
The Commonwealth is offering scholarships, however, a misleading website is being circulated on WhatsApp.
This is a trend observed by The FactCheckHub overtime whereby scammers and phishers ride on the back of legitimate projects to carry out their activities.
The post circulating on WhatsApp read in part “Apply for United Kingdom Scholarship 2021, Fully funded scholarship to study for free in UK”, this was accompanied with a link that redirects to this website “Uk-scholarship.get-noww.xyz”.
The misleading post as circulated on WhatsApp.
The landing page of the website is riddled with grammatical, spelling errors as well as American spelling, this is a red flag because a commonwealth scholarship website which is funded by United Kingdom and targets applications from countries under the former British empire would be using the British spelling of ‘programme’, instead of ‘program’ as was obtainable and so on.
This and other grammatical errors can be spotted across all the pages on the website.
The homepage of the misleading website riddled with errors.
Another red flag from the landing page is the non-clickable social media icons. The social media icons on a website are supposed to redirect to the website’s social media handles when clicked, however this was not the case.
In addition, the page has a testimonial or user comments page that has a Facebook like comment interface, however the commenters profile, just like the icons, were not clickable too.
Furthermore, after filling the form, a prompt to share the website link to a number of whatsApp individuals or groups appears. This is one of the characteristics of scam and phishing websites observed by The FactCheckHub in a report about scam websites in Nigeria.
A common feature observed on phishing and misleading websites debunked by The FactCheckHub.
The FactCheckHub had earlier noted in a report here on how to spot and avoid such scam websites.
IN a bid to tackle misinformation on its micro-blogging platform, Twitter has partnered with two international news platforms, the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters.
Making the announcement in a blog post, Twitter stated that the collaboration will help the platform in identifying and elevating credible information.
“We are committed to making sure that when people come to Twitter to see what’s happening, they are able to easily find reliable information.”
Social media platforms have been making conscious efforts in tackling misinformation, particularly in curbing elections and COVID-19 related ones.
Twitter in January launched Birdwatch, a community-based approach to tackle misinformation.
The Birdwatch allows people to identify information in Tweets they believe is misleading and write notes to give informative context on it.
Twitter, however, added that this new partnership will help provide veracious context to wide range of issues on the platform.
“Twitter will be able to expand the scale and increase the speed of our efforts to provide timely, authoritative context across the wide range of global topics and conversations that happen on Twitter every day,”
IN commemoration of its one year anniversary, The FactCheckHub is set to host a verification masterclass.
The matersclass titled, “How to identify and debunk misinformation,” will take place on Zoom and Facebook on Tuesday, August 10, 2021.
Registration for the masterclass which is FREE and open to all can be done via here.
Established in 2020, The FactCheckHub is an initiative of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (The ICIR) aimed at combatting misinformation in the society.
Since it launching in August of 2020, The FactCheckHub has verified claims across varied subjects and even coutside the shores of Nigeria. The Fact-Checks can be read here are also amplified in multiple languages.
The FactCheckHub is a non-partisan platform for fact-checking with the primary aim of combating misinformation, disinformation, hoaxes and rumours about topical issues including COVID-19, elections, health and governance, among others.
Speaking on the masterclass, Bamas Victoria, the Editor and Team Lead of The FactCheckHub stated that the masterclass, which is free, poised to empower the participants with basic fact-checking skills.
“In this age, the traditional media no longer have monopoly of technology for multiplying and distribution of news as was obtainable in the past, this simply means this hitherto exclusive access has now been extended to anyone with a phone and access to the internet.
The downside of this development is the infodemic – people are constantly faced with information from multiple sources. And because everyone now have access to share information online, misinformation and disinformation thrive; this has contributed to the reason why ‘fake news’ has become a buzzword and why media and independent fact-checking organisations are springing up to help combat and checkmate this trend. “
She added that all hands must be on deck in combating misinformation and in ensuring only factual information trends whether online or offline.
“However, this is not enough. All hands need to be on deck in combating misinformation. Therefore, the ability and skills to be able to discern what is factual and what is not is now a necessity for individuals in this global age.”
Opeyemi Kehinde, the Deputy Editor and Amplification Lead and Olugbenga Adanikin, a Researcher, Investigative journalist and Fact-Checker host the classes.
