A Facebook post shared over 2,000 times in Nigeria asks people to pray for the woman pictured. She looks disfigured, with half her face appearing burnt and bleeding and her right eye hanging out of its socket.
“Please don’t ignore. She need prayers. Please help share to 5groups on Facebook. Don’t ignore her without a share. Only heartless and racist will ignore,” the post says.
Many commenters have said the injuries aren’t real, but makeup. We investigated.
A reverse image search leads to the original photo, which was posted on Twitter by a makeup artist based in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
The top tweet on her timeline, from 27 October 2019, includes the photo shared on Facebook. The tweet reads: “Hey guys, I'm a make up artist and I do SFX makeup. Please help me retweet. My customer might be on your timeline.”
SFX stands for special effects. The injuries in the photo aren’t real, but created by makeup. – Jennifer Ojugbeli
“Please don’t ignore. She need prayers. Please help share to 5groups on Facebook. Don’t ignore her without a share. Only heartless and racist will ignore,” the post says.
Many commenters have said the injuries aren’t real, but makeup. We investigated.
Special effects makeup
A reverse image search leads to the original photo, which was posted on Twitter by a makeup artist based in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
The top tweet on her timeline, from 27 October 2019, includes the photo shared on Facebook. The tweet reads: “Hey guys, I'm a make up artist and I do SFX makeup. Please help me retweet. My customer might be on your timeline.”
SFX stands for special effects. The injuries in the photo aren’t real, but created by makeup. – Jennifer Ojugbeli
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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