“JUST IN: Boko Haram members Arrested in Lagos,” reads the alarming headline of a video posted on Facebook on 21 February 2020. It adds: “BE ALERT!”
Lagos, the major city and economic hub of Nigeria, lies in the far south of the country. Boko Haram is a militant Islamist group that has mainly carried out attacks in Nigeria’s north-east.
Were members of Boko Haram arrested in Nigeria just days ago?
The video is a Channels Television report on the Nigerian army arresting 41 people suspected to be members of Boko Haram, in Lagos.
But headlines shown in the scrolling text at the bottom of the screen indicate that the report isn’t from 2020.
The headlines include: “Morsi backers stage defiant marches”, “Red Bull considering Alonso in 2014” and “Bolt agrees to Farah showdown in charity race”. We searched for each, and they were all news from July 2013.
The story of the Boko Haram arrests in Lagos is also seven years old. The video was originally posted on Channel Television’s YouTube channel on 29 July 2013.
Claiming old news is recent news is disinformation. The Facebook post is false. – Allwell Okpi
Lagos, the major city and economic hub of Nigeria, lies in the far south of the country. Boko Haram is a militant Islamist group that has mainly carried out attacks in Nigeria’s north-east.
Were members of Boko Haram arrested in Nigeria just days ago?
Seven-year-old headlines
The video is a Channels Television report on the Nigerian army arresting 41 people suspected to be members of Boko Haram, in Lagos.
But headlines shown in the scrolling text at the bottom of the screen indicate that the report isn’t from 2020.
The headlines include: “Morsi backers stage defiant marches”, “Red Bull considering Alonso in 2014” and “Bolt agrees to Farah showdown in charity race”. We searched for each, and they were all news from July 2013.
The story of the Boko Haram arrests in Lagos is also seven years old. The video was originally posted on Channel Television’s YouTube channel on 29 July 2013.
Claiming old news is recent news is disinformation. The Facebook post is false. – Allwell Okpi
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.
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