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Israel – Gaza war: Claim that Nigeria is supporting Iran, Palestine is misleading!

Fatimah Quadri
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0
Israel – Gaza war: Claim that Nigeria is supporting Iran, Palestine is misleading!

AN X user @A_Y_Rafindadi has claimed that the Nigerian government is supporting Iran and Palestine in the ongoing Israel – Gaza war.

He made the claim via a post shared on his X account on April 13, 2024.

The post was published alongside an image of Muhammadu Buhari, the immediate-past Nigerian president, who was seen shaking hands with a former President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hassan Rouhani.

READ: Viral video of UN drone crash is over 9 years old!

The image was posted alongside a caption that read:

In this world war III, Nigeria Stand With Iran/Palestine.

The giant of Africa is with the oppressed.

The post has since garnered over 1.3 million views, with more than 24,000 likes and over 2,400 reposts.

The claim comes the same day Iran launched a large-scale drone and missile attacks on Israel. Media reports state that the incident was a reprisal for Israel’s attack earlier in the month that killed Iranian officials near the latter’s embassy in Damascus, the Syrian capital.

It will be recalled that The FactCheckHub had previously fact-checked a claim by this X user earlier in the year about an explosion that occurred in Maitama, Abuja’s highbrow area.

 

CLAIM

Nigeria has declared its support for Iran and Palestine in the ongoing Israel – Gaza war.

 

THE FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub revealed that the claim is MISLEADING, as the image has been online since 2015.

Screenshot of the claim as posted on X. INSERT: Misleading verdict.
Screenshot of the claim as posted on X. INSERT: Misleading verdict.

A Google Lens search conducted on the image shows that the image was taken at the 3rd Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) summit in 2015.

Similarly, Nigeria’s ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Francisca K. Omayuli, on April 14, 2024, called for a diplomatic settlement amongst both nations.

The statement highlighted the need for both nations to contemplate the universal dedication to peacefully resolving conflicts aimed at promoting global peace and security.

ALSO READ: Image used to depict Maitama explosion on X has been online since 2014

The statement read:

NIGERIA APPEALS FOR RESTRAINT FOLLOWING THE RECENT ESCALATION BETWEEN IRAN AND ISRAEL

The Federal Government of Nigeria joins other Members of the International Community to call on Iran and Israel to exercise restraint, as diplomatic efforts are ongoing to ease tension and avoid a wider conflict in the Middle East.

In this critical period, it behooves the two countries to reflect on the universal commitment to peaceful resolution of conflicts, for the advancement of global peace and security.

 

THE VERDICT

The claim that Nigeria has declared its support for Iran and Palestine in the ongoing Israel – Gaza war is MISLEADING; findings show that the image was from a 2015 event and unrelated while an official statement from the Nigerian government solely called for a peaceful, diplomatic resolution of the war.

False claim circulates on X that US lifts sanctions on Zimbabwe

Fatimah Quadri
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0
False claim circulates on X that US lifts sanctions on Zimbabwe

AN X user, @zakhemabaso, has claimed that the United States of America has lifted sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe as the Western nation is interested in the latter’s mineral resources.

In the 24-second footage, Donald Trump, a former US president who is also running for re-election in the US later this year, was seen saying that America lifted its sanctions on Zimbabwe specifically to get involved in the country’s mining business, especially lithium and diamonds.

READ: TB Joshua: Video of Tinubu criticizing BBC documentary is doctored!

The audio of the footage transcribed below read:

…We have pushed for the removal of sanctions on Zimbabwe, we want to participate in their lithium and diamonds. We can’t be left out . The Chinese and Russians have taken up all the mines…

The X user also wrote a caption alongside the footage thus:

The capitalist vultures have us in their sight….forewarned is forearmed. Now we understand why the sanctions were removed. People of Zimbabwe wake up before the predators move in!!!

The claimant is insinuating that the sanctions lifted by the US is a ploy for them to get involved in Zimbabwe’s mining sector.

It will be recalled that on March 4, 2024, the United States removed sanctions against many Zimbabwean companies and individuals but imposed new ones on Zimbabwe’s President, Emmerson Mnangagwa and a few others in the southern African country.

“Specifically, the Department of the Treasury is designating three entities and eleven individuals, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, Brigadier General (Retired) Walter Tapfumaneyi, and businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei, pursuant to Executive Order 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, for their involvement in corruption or serious human rights abuse,” a White House statement read.

 

CLAIM

The United States lifted its earlier sanctions on Zimbabwe in order to get involved in its mining sector.

 

THE FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE, as the video has been doctored.

A brief look at the video shows that the footage was AI-generated as it has the watermark of the AI app on it.

TryParrotAI.com is a software application that is used to make Deepfakes audio and videos.

Screenshot of the footage alongside the X post. INSERT: False verdict.
Screenshot of the footage as seen on the X post. INSERT: False verdict.

Our fact-checker also observed that the audio and video of the footage were not in sync, a common feature peculiar with AI-generated videos.

ALSO READ: Five AI tools used in generating disinformation visuals

Further checks also revealed that the footage is a template for most deepfake videos made with Donald Trump’s visual.

 

THE VERDICT

The claim that the  United States lifted its earlier sanctions on Zimbabwe in order to get involved in its mining sector is FALSE; the video is AI-generated.

Dino Melaye, Instablog9ja share false claim on Nigerian agencies scrapped

Fatimah Quadri
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0
Dino Melaye, Instablog9ja share false claim on Nigerian agencies scrapped

ON Friday, April 19, 2024, some X users shared footage of a sitting of the Federal Executive Council with the claim that the Federal Government of Nigeria has scrapped some parastatals and agencies alike.

Dino Melaye, a former federal lawmaker at the Nigerian Senate, shared the six minutes, 18 seconds footage on X alongside a claim that FG has scrapped the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

READ: Dino Melaye spreads false claim about INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu

The footage showed Hadiza Usman, the special assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on policy coordination reading out from a paper. Part of the audio transcribed below read:

One of the key areas as the honourable minister has mentioned is the fact that our administration have taken very bold steps towards the implementation on the aspect of the Oronsaye panel report which seeks to mergers and subsuming, scrapping and relocation of parastatals, agencies, and commissions of federal government in line with the need to reduce the cost of governance and ensure that we streamline efficiency by the governance value chains. We would go through the list of agencies that have been scrapped and their functions moved to ministries and agencies and those merged and those subsumed.

Similarly, the caption on his X post, shared alongside the footage, read:

FG Scraps FRCN, ICPC, NCDC, NCC, NTA, Several Others. Finally.

The post has gained a traction of over 245,000 views, with 1,500 likes and about 500 reposts.

Also, an online blog, Instablog9ja, which has over 3.9 million followers on X,  shared the post same day from Dino Melaye’s X profile and it has garnered over 1.1 million views, with more than 2,400 reposts, over 9,000 likes and over 1,400 bookmarks.

 

CLAIM

The Federal Government has scrapped FRCN, ICPC, NCDC, and other parastatals and agencies.

 

THE FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING!

On February 27, 2024, media platforms including Premium Times reported that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the implementation of the recommendations of the Steve Oronsaye panel on the restructuring and rationalisation of federal agencies, parastatals and commissions which involve the merging, subsuming and scrapping of agencies with similar functions.

Screenshot of the claim retrieved from X. INSERT: False verdict.
Screenshot of the claim retrieved from X. INSERT: False verdict.

The Premium Times report also contained the full list of agencies to be scrapped, merged, relocated and subsumed, including those listed in the footage.

Only two agencies are to be scrapped, namely: Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) and  National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) while 15 agencies are to be merged, according to the ‘Oronsaye Report.‘

One of the agencies Melaye claimed has been scrapped is the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).

However, the FRCN is to be merged with the Voice of Nigeria (VON), according to the ‘Oronsaye Report‘ while nine agencies are to be subsumed and four agencies to be relocated. The merger is yet to be implemented by the Nigerian government as of today.

Also, the video shared by Melaye dates back to Monday, 26 February 2024 as published by Premium Times, when the sitting of the Federal Executive Council took place; thus, it is not recent.

ALSO READ: Dino Melaye shares misleading video of Nigerian Army accusing Wike of attempting to compromise election

This shows that the decision has been taken several weeks ago, though the implementation committee has been inaugurated. Their task is expected to last for a period of twelve weeks before the official merger is announced, among others.

 

THE VERDICT

The claim that the Federal Government has scrapped FRCN, ICPC, NCDC, and other parastatals and agencies is FALSE; findings show that only PTAD and NSSEC are to be scrapped, according to the Oronsaye Report while others are yet to be merged or subsumed as announced by the Nigerian government in February 2024.

Simon Ekpa shares fake images of alleged Biafrans’ assault on Nigerian Army vehicle

Blessing Amala Muonwe
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0
Simon Ekpa shares fake images of alleged Biafrans’ assault on Nigerian Army vehicle

A pro-Biafran agitator, Simon Ekpa, has posted an image showing a vehicle riddled with bullets with a claim that the military vehicle sustained multiple bullet holes when the Biafra Resistance Fighters (BRF) assaulted the Nigerian Army on patrol recently.

The post, published on X, read:

“When the terrorists @HQNigerianArmy meet Biafra resistance fighters”

The post has generated over 36,000 views with over 1,900 reposts and more than 2,600 likes as of April 21, 2024.

 

CLAIM

The image shows a vehicle owned by the Nigerian Army riddled with bullets from the Biafra resistance fighters.

Screenshot of Simon Ekpa's X post showing the fake image in circulation.
Screenshot of Simon Ekpa’s X post showing the fake image in circulation.

 

THE FINDINGS

Checks by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.

Findings revealed that the photo was old and taken out of context.

When subjected to Google Reverse Image, it was discovered that the photo was posted on X on April 8, 2024, by the official X handle of the Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium, a group that provides ‘Comprehensive Compendiums of Information and Analyses of Terrorist Groups and Activities.’

The image has been online several weeks before Simon Ekpa's claim.
The image has been online several weeks before Simon Ekpa’s claim.

The caption on the image on the group’s X post read: 

“Suspected Islamic State (#IS) #Armed Assault of Vehicle Belonging to Syrian Democratic Forces (#SDF/PKK), in #al-Alwa, #Hasakah Governorate, #Syria. Read more: https://trackingterrorism.org/chatter/is-arm”

It indicated that the image was from an alleged terrorists’ assault on the Syrian military that happened in Syria and not in Nigeria as purported by Simon Ekpa.

Further checks show that there was no credible media platform that reported the purported recent clash between any pro-Biafra group and operatives of the Nigerian Army.

 

THE VERDICT

The claim that the images show a vehicle owned by the Nigerian Army riddled with bullets from the Biafra resistance fighters is MISLEADING; findings show that the vehicle belonged to a Syrian military force following an assault from suspected Islamic State terrorists and unrelated to Nigeria.

No! Nigerian govt is NOT giving out child support funds to parents

Blessing Amala Muonwe
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2
No! Nigerian govt is NOT giving out child support funds to parents

A claim that the Nigerian government is paying a child support fund of N50,000 each to all Nigerian parents has circulated on social media, particularly on WhatsApp.

The message has been shared widely on multiple WhatsApp groups with a call to action to click a particular website or link in the forwarded message.

The claim reads:

“Due to high level of complains from Nigerian parents on the high cost of feeding their children, *President Bola Ahmed Tinubu* have urge that the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation *Betta C. Edu* should open the CHILD SUPPORT scheme. Every Nigerian parents is entitled to receive the sum of ₦50,000 for 6 months. APPLY NOW*https://tr.ee/Child-Support-Fund-Portal”.

 

CLAIM

The Federal Government is paying a child support fund of N50,000 to all Nigerian parents.

 

The false claim in circulation, as retrieved from a WhatsApp group.
The false claim in circulation, as retrieved from a WhatsApp group.

THE FINDINGS

Findings by this fact-checker show that the claim is FALSE, as the link directs users to a phishing website.

Screenshot of the webpage it directs users to where the applicant inputs their personal details to "claim the support fund" with a proceed button.
Screenshot of the webpage it directs users to where the applicant inputs their personal details to “claim the support fund” with a proceed button.

A click on the web link redirects you to another website: https://ndlea-recruitment-portal-2024-sv.blogspot.com/?m=1 which displays an NDLEA recruitment link, while the interface shows where the applicant inputs his/her personal details to claim the support fund with a proceed button.

Screenshot of the second webpage of the application form.
Screenshot of the second webpage of the application form.

The button takes you to another interface where users are asked to input their bank details.

The texts on that section reads: Your Application for the ongoing FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ₦50,000 CHILD SUPPORT FUND FOR NIGERIAN PARENTS Is now on process. Kindly Validate Your Bank Account Number to proceed to the next step. Note! Applicants Must Be Nigerians By Birth. With a button to click on CONTINUE.

Screenshot of the third webpage, where you validate Your Bank Account Number to proceed to the next step.
Screenshot of the third webpage, where you validate Your Bank Account Number to proceed to the next step.

Once the user click on continue, the next interface is where the user is asked to input their bank name and account number. 

Then, below that interface are random Facebook comments section allegedly showing people’s appreciation for receiving the Federal Government support fund; thus, making the website look genuine while baiting users to fill in their bank details.

Screenshot of the random Facebook comments section allegedly showing people’s appreciation for receiving the Federal Government support fund.
Screenshot of the random Facebook comments section allegedly showing people’s appreciation for receiving the Federal Government support fund.

After clicking on submit, the user will be taken to another webpage where they will be asked to share it with 5 groups or 15 friends on WhatsApp so that other parents can be aware of it (Click on the “SHARE” icon below).

screenshot of the message it displayed after entering your bank details
Screenshot of the message it displayed after submitting your bank details.

Below is the message it displayed after filling the form with your bank details:

“Congratulations, Your account number4567890673.

Is amoung the selected ones to receive the ₦50,000 Child Support Fund from FG.

How to proceed:

  1. Share it with 5 groups or 15 friends on WhatsApp so that other parents can be aware of this (Click on the “SHARE” icon below).
  2. You will be redirected automatically to our “PAYMENT FORM” page after the GREEN verification bar is filled.
  3. You will receive a confirmation Email Within 24hours After Successful Application.

NOTE: Proper Sharing To Your WhatsApp Friends Or Groups Places You At A Higher Chance Of Getting Your Payment Immediately”

However, a check on the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation handles on major social media platforms, especially X and their website revealed that there’s no related news on child support fund being introduced by the Nigerian government.

Also, no reputable news agency published any credible report in that regard.

Thorough checks on the fake child support website also revealed typographical errors on the website. This is a feature synonymous with most phishing scams The FactCheckHub has debunked over the years, as they harvest people’s details to carry out phishing attacks.

The FactCheckHub also reached out to Ajuri Ngelale, a spokesperson to the Nigerian president to confirm the claim. He said “the child support donation is fake and should be disregarded.”

You can learn more about how to identify phishing scams and websites here.

 

THE VERDICT

The claim that the federal government is paying a child support fund of N50,000 to all Nigerian parents is FALSE; findings show that it is a phishing scam aimed at baiting users to reveal their personal details.

Is Air Peace the largest African airline in terms of passenger traffic?

Fatimah Quadri
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0
Is Air Peace the largest African airline in terms of passenger traffic?

AN X user, @AfricaFactsZone, has claimed that Air Peace is Africa’s largest airline in terms of annual passenger traffic.

In the ratings, he listed Air Peace (Nigeria), Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopia), Air Algerie (Algeria), EgyptAir (Egypt), Kenyan Airways (Kenya), Royal Air Maroc (Morocco), South African Airways (South Africa), and Tunisair (Tunisia) as having the largest airlines by number of passengers annually.

READ: Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport has NOT been sold to China!

The post read:

Africa’s Largest Airlines by Number of Passengers Annually

1. Air Peace -14 million passengers

2. Ethiopian Airlines – 13.89 million passengers

3. Air Algerie – 7.2 million passengers

4. EgyptAir – 6.4 million

5. Kenya Airways – 5 million

Royal Air Maroc – 5 million

7. South African Airways – 4.6 million

8. Tunisair – 2.474 million

The post has garnered over 800,000 views, with over 8,000 likes and 1,700 reposts as of April 19, 2024.

 

CLAIM

Air Peace is the largest African airline in terms of passenger traffic.

 

THE FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub indicate that the claim is FALSE!

Screenshot of the claim retrieved from X. INSERT: False verdict.
Screenshot of the claim retrieved from X. INSERT: False verdict.

The 2023 air transport report released by the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), showed that the top 5 airlines with the highest passenger traffic are: Ethiopian airlines (11.3 million), Egyptair (8.2 million), Safair (6.6 million), Royal Air Maroc (5.7 million) and Air Algerie (4.7 million). While Air peace ranked 7th with 2.6 million passenger traffic on the list.

A 2023 report by Cirium, an aviation analytics company which highlighted Cirium Diio as its data source, ranked Ethiopian airlines (Ethiopia) as the busiest airline in Africa.

A 2024 report published by Simple Flying also noted that Ethiopian Airlines remains Africa’s largest carrier of air passengers as it played a critical role in the 20.7% increase on international passenger traffic by African airlines.

 

THE VERDICT

The claim that Air Peace is the largest African airline in terms of passenger traffic is FALSE; findings revealed that Ethiopian Airlines is the largest African airlines in terms of passenger traffic.

Video does not show Palestinians cheering after Iran’s attack on Israel

Nurudeen Akewushola
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0
Video does not show Palestinians cheering after Iran’s attack on Israel

A video showing people praying at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem has surfaced online with a claim that it shows Palestinians cheering after Iran attacked Israel on April 13, 2024.

The ICIR reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, on April 13, 2024 launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel in an attack that may trigger a major conflict escalation between the two countries.

The massive aerial attack marks the first direct strike by Iran on Israeli territory from the Iranian soil. Iran called the attack “Operation True Promise.”

An X user, @Sprinterfactory posted the video with a caption that read: 

“Palestinians celebrate at Al-Aqsa Mosque after hearing the news of Iran’s attack on Israel.” 

The post has generated over 3,000 reposts and more than 15,000 likes as of April 19, 2024. 

Another X user, @franchez_25 posted the same footage with another caption thus:

“The joy of Palestinians in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque when they heard the news of Iran’s attack on Israel; World War III.” 

The post has also been circulated widely.

 

CLAIM 

Video shows Palestinians cheering Iran’s attack on Israel at Al-Aqsa mosque.

 

THE FINDINGS 

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.

screenshot of the viral post purportedly showing Palestinians cheering Iran's attack on Israel. The claim is MISLEADING
Screenshot of the viral post and video purportedly showing Palestinians cheering Iran’s attack on Israel. INSERT: Misleading verdict.

The FactCheckHub subjected keyframes in the video to a Google reverse image search and the result shows that the video has been online before the attack on April 13. 

An earlier version of the video was posted by this Turkish  X account on April 5, 2024 with a translated caption: “Jerusalem is on the rise.”

Similarly, the voice-over in the video can be heard in this YouTube video published over 6 years ago.

This suggests that the video was taken on the last Friday of the recently concluded Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

According to an AFP report published by France24, some 120,000 people visited the Al-Aqsa mosque on Friday, April 5, 2024, to mark Laylat al-Qadr, which means “The Night of Destiny”.  The night is usually within the last 10 days of Ramadan and is considered very important by Muslims worldwide.

The night is believed to be when the Quran was revealed to Prophet Mohammed.

 

THE VERDICT 

The claim that the video shows Palestinians cheering after Iran attacked Israel on April 13, 2024, is MISLEADING; findings show that the video had been online before the incident. 

Does Nigeria have third highest birth rate in the world?

Nurudeen Akewushola
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0
Does Nigeria have third highest birth rate in the world?

AN X user, @Temitayomab has claimed that Nigeria is currently the country with the third highest birth rate in the world.

“Nigeria has the third highest birth rate in the world, currently,” she posted.

The claim has generated over 100 reposts and is viewed by over 300,000 users on X.

READ: Nigeria does NOT have the highest rape rate in the world

CLAIM

Nigeria has the third highest birth rate in the world.

 

THE FINDINGS

Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.

According to the World Health Organization, birth rate also known as crude birth rate is the ratio between the number of live births in a population during a given year and the total mid-year population for the same year, usually multiplied by 1,000. It is often used interchangeably with fertility rate which is an average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime. It’s usually measured per 1,000 women of childbearing age (typically 15-49 years old) in a given population.

The FactCheckHub ran a search on the internet to ascertain the veracity of the claim. We could not find any recent credible data that ranked Nigeria as the third with the highest birth rate in the world.  The most recent data found on the internet is the data by the US Central Intelligence Agency which ranks countries in the world according to their birth rates. The dataset, which was last updated in 2023, was also the 2023 estimates.

According to the data, the top ten (10) countries with the highest birth rate in the world are Niger (46.9), Angola (41.4), Benin (40.7), Mali (40.5), Uganda (40.3), Chad (39.9), Congo, Democratic Republic of the (39.6), Somalia (37.7), South Sudan (37.1), Mozambique (36.9). Nigeria (34) was ranked 17th on the list.

Another data from World Bank ranked Niger, (45.29), Somalia, (43.56), Chad, (43.36), C.A. Republic, (42.68), DR Congo, (42.05), Mali, (41.64), Angola, (38.81) as the top seven countries with the highest birth rate in the world as of 2021. Nigeria was ranked 8th on the list. The same data was also found on Macro Trends.

Similarly, data by wisevoter, a website that provides researchers with information and tools that amplify democracy show that the ten countries with the highest birth rates are Niger, Rwanda, Nicaragua, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Belize, Dominican Republic, and Anguilla. Niger remains the country with the highest birth rate on the list with a birth rate of 59.38 per 1,000. Nigeria is ranked 75th out of the 216 nations & territories on the list, though the data didn’t specify the year the information was gathered or updated.

Further checks by The FactCheckHub show that after the post went viral, the X user admitted to not being sure of the source of her claim.

“Didn’t know the tweet was going to trend. Can’t even remember where I read it. But in short – we gotta stop having so many babies,” she said.

 

THE VERDICT

The claim that Nigeria is the third country with the highest birth rate in the world is FALSE. Available data show that countries like Niger, Somalia, Chad, Mali and others have a higher birth rate than Nigeria.

How Chris Oyakhilome spreads malaria vaccine conspiracy theories – Report

Nurudeen Akewushola
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0
How Chris Oyakhilome spreads malaria vaccine conspiracy theories – Report

A prominent Nigerian clergy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, has been accused of spreading false information against malaria vaccines.

According to the report published on Thursday, April 18, 2024, the BBC analysed how Mr Oyakhilome misquoted a clip from a TED talk Bill Gates gave in 2010 during one of his sermons in August 2023, among his other anti-vaccination claims.

READ: FACT CHECK: Does 5G pose a health risk to the human body?

The pastor claimed Gates was among “those who have an agenda for depopulation of the world”.

While giving a talk on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, Gates said: “First, we’ve got population. The world today has 6.8 billion people. That’s headed up to about nine billion. Now, if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by, perhaps, 10 or 15%.”

Bill Gates’ assertion was said to have been misunderstood by Pastor Oyakhilome and this made him mislead his large followers.

Gates did not advocate for the world’s depopulation, according to the BBC.

Gates has clarified in the past that he saw population growth and health improvement as complementary: “When health improves, families choose to have less kids.”

Oyakhilome also claimed that the World Mosquito Programme facility in Colombia belonged to the Gates Foundation, accusing it of producing genetically modified mosquitoes as a strategy for depopulation.

The mosquito factory, which was designed to diminish mosquitoes’ ability to transmit viruses, is part of a non-profit network of firms owned by Monash University in Australia, and it has stated that its process does not use genetically modified organisms.

Oyakhilome is no stranger to anti-vaccination misinformation. He has recently targeted the HPV vaccine, which is designed to prevent women from cervical cancer.

“They have something else up their sleeve. It’s not about cancer,” he said during a service aired on September 2, 2023.

Nigeria launched a widespread immunisation campaign for girls in October 2023 in an effort to dramatically lower cervical cancer rates. Every year, about 8,000 Nigerian women die as a result of this disease.

In 2021, a major study financed by Cancer Research UK discovered that the HPV vaccine reduced cervical cancer cases by over 90 percent. Oyakhilome has already made numerous erroneous assertions regarding anti-tetanus shots, polio vaccines, and other paediatric immunisations.

The report said the pastor also falsely stated that the messenger RNA vaccine alters the DNA.

READ ALSO: How the religious toga of misinformation fuelled COVID-19 pandemic

However, immunization does not affect people’s DNA. It takes a portion of a virus’s genetic material, or messenger RNA, to train the immune system to detect it and manufacture antibodies, the BBC report stated.

During the COVID pandemic, British media regulator, Ofcom, fined Pastor Oyakhilome’s congregation £125,000 ($155,000).

It said his network Loveworld, broadcast in the UK, showed “misleading and potentially harmful statements about the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines”.

It will be recalled that in 2020, The FactCheckHub analysed how the pastor falsely claimed that the 5G technology was dangerous to human cells. Also, a former lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye, echoed the same sentiment in a video he shared on his X (formerly Twitter) handle then.

Meta takes action against misinformation ahead of South Africa elections

Fatimah Quadri
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0
Meta takes action against misinformation ahead of South Africa elections

As part of its effort to foster a sane information ecosystem, Meta has taken steps to combat misinformation during South Africa’s election.

The tech company made this known in a statement. It noted the plan to launch an Elections Operations Centre specifically for South Africa as election day draws near. This centre will be tasked with real-time threat detection across all the company’s apps and technologies.

Meta’s Director of Public Policy, Sub-Saharan Africa, Balkissa Idé Siddo, highlighted that the company removes any content across all platforms that could incite immediate violence or physical harm that aims to stifle voting.

Read Also : Meta launches safety campaign to tackle online misinformation

“We remove the most serious kinds of misinformation from Facebook, Instagram and Threads, such as content that could contribute to imminent violence or physical harm, or that is intended to suppress voting.

For content that doesn’t violate these particular policies, we work with independent fact-checking organisations who review and rate content, including if it was created or edited by digital tools such as AI. When content is debunked by these fact checkers, we attach warning labels to the content and reduce its distribution in Feed so people are less likely to see it.” Siddo said

The statement further noted that Meta would before the elections, make it easier for it’s fact-checking partners in South Africa to find and assess content pertaining to the elections while employing keyword detection to compile it all in one location to make it easier to find.

Read Also : Meta announces tool to identify, label AI-generated images ahead of global elections

It also noted that their partners are also being onboarded to the new research tool, Meta Content Library, that has a powerful search capability to support them in their work.

In conclusion, Meta noted that it has signed the “Voluntary Framework of Cooperation to Address Disinformation in the 2024 National and Provincial Elections in South Africa” – an agreement to collaborate with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) and other industry partners, where possible, to mitigate the risks associated with elections.

 

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