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No, UN didn’t tweet list of ‘most corrupt’ African countries under Covid-19

A screenshot shared on Facebook appears to show a tweet from the United Nations, or UN, listing the “most corrupt” African countries during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nigeria tops the list, followed by Mali, Sudan, Kenya and Guinea-Bissau.

The tweet has also been shared as a joke targeting Uganda, because below the main tweet it appears the UN Twitter account says Uganda is the most corrupt country of all. 

But did the UN tweet the list in the first place? We checked.



Fake tweet


A search on Twitter for the tweet does not yield any results.

There is no date stamp on the screenshot shared on Facebook, but it was posted on Facebook on 15 July 2020. There is no trace of a tweet like it on the UN’s verified Twitter account

There was also no media coverage of such a pronouncement by the UN, which would have been controversial and received worldwide attention. 

A Twitter user shared the screenshot with the UN, to confirm its authenticity.

The UN replied definitively: “This is fake and was not posted on @UN.” – Dancan Bwire

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