A Facebook user posted two photos on a Facebook group for Kenyan National Youth Service supporters.
The photo shows men in camouflage combat uniforms armed with guns and a type of baton usually used for crowd control.
The photo was captioned “NYS special forces”.
But there is clear evidence that the uniformed men pictured are not from Kenya.
Despite their uniforms closely resembling the ones worn by NYS members in Kenya, they clearly display the national flag of Uganda and not of Kenya.
The photos also appear to have a watermark that says “Daily Monitor”. The Daily Monitor is a Ugandan daily newspaper.
Searching for “Uganda protests” on social media site Twitter returns similar images, like this photo of protests by students at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
A Google search for “Makerere University protests” quickly shows that the images posted on Facebook were first posted on the website of the Daily Monitor, to illustrate the student protests.
According to the Daily Monitor article, the Makerere University students were demonstrating against a 15% tuition hike. The photos have nothing to do with Kenya’s national youth service. – Dancan Bwire
The photo shows men in camouflage combat uniforms armed with guns and a type of baton usually used for crowd control.
The photo was captioned “NYS special forces”.
Hints photos from Uganda
But there is clear evidence that the uniformed men pictured are not from Kenya.
Despite their uniforms closely resembling the ones worn by NYS members in Kenya, they clearly display the national flag of Uganda and not of Kenya.
The photos also appear to have a watermark that says “Daily Monitor”. The Daily Monitor is a Ugandan daily newspaper.
Searching for “Uganda protests” on social media site Twitter returns similar images, like this photo of protests by students at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.
A Google search for “Makerere University protests” quickly shows that the images posted on Facebook were first posted on the website of the Daily Monitor, to illustrate the student protests.
According to the Daily Monitor article, the Makerere University students were demonstrating against a 15% tuition hike. The photos have nothing to do with Kenya’s national youth service. – Dancan Bwire
Republish our content for free
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
Add new comment