A terrifying meme is doing the rounds on Facebook in African countries.
It shows a crying red-eyed man who seems to have had his mouth, thick with blood, ripped from side to side and then sewn shut with safety pins.
The meme has been shared almost 5,000 times.
Why? Because it threatens: “Send this to 20 people or else you’ll wake up like this.”
It’s a fake threat. Nothing will happen to anyone for not sharing the image.
And a reverse image search reveals that the scary photo doesn’t show anything real, either.
It’s actually a photo of “half Xhosa, half Nigerian” professional rugby player Hacjivah Dayimani. He used movie makeup on his face to protest against people’s silence on the abuse of women.
In May 2017 Dayimani posted three photos of himself in the scary makeup, with the caption: “Your silence is their Greatest Weapon! Speak out against Women Abuse! Just because it's not happening to you doesn't mean you have to keep quiet!”
The man shown in the threatening meme is healthy and happy, and cares about other people. The person who first posted the meme doesn’t seem to be any of those things. – Mary Alexander (23/05/19)
It shows a crying red-eyed man who seems to have had his mouth, thick with blood, ripped from side to side and then sewn shut with safety pins.
The meme has been shared almost 5,000 times.
Why? Because it threatens: “Send this to 20 people or else you’ll wake up like this.”
It’s a fake threat. Nothing will happen to anyone for not sharing the image.
Rugby player’s protest against women abuse
And a reverse image search reveals that the scary photo doesn’t show anything real, either.
It’s actually a photo of “half Xhosa, half Nigerian” professional rugby player Hacjivah Dayimani. He used movie makeup on his face to protest against people’s silence on the abuse of women.
In May 2017 Dayimani posted three photos of himself in the scary makeup, with the caption: “Your silence is their Greatest Weapon! Speak out against Women Abuse! Just because it's not happening to you doesn't mean you have to keep quiet!”
The man shown in the threatening meme is healthy and happy, and cares about other people. The person who first posted the meme doesn’t seem to be any of those things. – Mary Alexander (23/05/19)
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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