A Facebook post showing a photo of Nyakim Gatwech claims the model is in the “Guinness book of records” for the colour of her skin.
It reads: “Sudanese model Nyakim, enters Guinness book of records for having the darkest skin tone on earth.”
Guinness World Records, which used to be called The Guinness Book of Records, is a reference book published every year listing “record-breaking achievements”.
Similar posts with different photos of Gatwech have been circulating since at least April 2020.
The 27-year-old model is of South Sudanese descent but lived in Ethiopia and Kenya before moving to the US at the age of 14.
Gatwech’s dark complexion has led her fans to give her the nickname “queen of the dark”, a title she lists in the bio of her official Instagram page @queennyakimofficial.
But has she been recognised as having the “darkest skin tone in the world”? We checked.
On 27 April Guinness World Records debunked the social media posts about Gatwech.
They tweeted: “Fake news alert. Guinness World Records does not monitor records for skin tone.” – Grace Gichuhi
It reads: “Sudanese model Nyakim, enters Guinness book of records for having the darkest skin tone on earth.”
Guinness World Records, which used to be called The Guinness Book of Records, is a reference book published every year listing “record-breaking achievements”.
Similar posts with different photos of Gatwech have been circulating since at least April 2020.
The 27-year-old model is of South Sudanese descent but lived in Ethiopia and Kenya before moving to the US at the age of 14.
Gatwech’s dark complexion has led her fans to give her the nickname “queen of the dark”, a title she lists in the bio of her official Instagram page @queennyakimofficial.
But has she been recognised as having the “darkest skin tone in the world”? We checked.
No world records for skin tone
On 27 April Guinness World Records debunked the social media posts about Gatwech.
They tweeted: “Fake news alert. Guinness World Records does not monitor records for skin tone.” – Grace Gichuhi
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