Fact Check-Tweet about food shortages and the WEF sent by fake account

A tweet that falsely suggested the United States is working with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to help people survive food shortages was posted by a fake account. The message, which is still circulating on social media, was created by someone impersonating WEF founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab, the organization said.

The tweet sent by the now suspended account @_Klaus_Schwab ( twitter.com/_Klaus_Schwab ) on Nov. 12, 2020 read: “The World Economic Forum are working with the Biden Administration to ensure that most people will survive the coming food shortages. Citizens that have up-to-date vaccination documents will receive regular packages of food.”

It was copied and circulated as a screenshot here , here , here , here

Comments by users sharing the screenshot included: “Oh look they plan on starving us” and “The Economic Forum Great Reset plan for you”. The last one was a reference to The Great Reset, a sustainability plan proposed by the WEF that has repeatedly been misrepresented in conspiracy theories (see here , here ).

Peter Vanham, Head of Communications at the Chairman’s Office of the World Economic Forum, told Reuters via email that this tweet was sent by a “fake” social media account that “misrepresented the views of Prof. Schwab.”

“In fact, Prof. Schwab created the official Twitter account in part in response to the flood of fake social media accounts which have been created in recent months, some of which gained a big following,” Vanham said.

Schwab’s official Twitter account ( twitter.com/ProfKlausSchwab ), which has a verified blue checkmark, was created on Nov. 2020, while the fake account “@_Klaus_Schwab” ( twitter.com/_Klaus_Schwab ) was created in Oct. 2020, as visible in the Twitter bios. Reuters found no news reports about any similar statement made by Schwab.

President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package includes measures to address food insecurity in the U.S., such as increasing food aid for children who normally rely on school meals ( here , here ). The “American Rescue Plan” was approved by Congress on Feb. 26 ( here ).

As reported by the Thomson Reuters Foundation here in December 2020, job losses caused by pandemic lockdowns, COVID-19, climate change and other events disrupted food production and tipped millions more people into hunger worldwide in 2020. Aid officials fear the situation could worsen in 2021 as both the coronavirus crisis and wild weather exacerbate fragile conditions linked to conflicts and poverty in many parts of the globe.

The World Economic Forum has addressed food insecurity and the pandemic, here and here .

VERDICT

False. A fake Twitter account impersonating WEF’s executive chairman posted the tweet saying the organization was working with the Biden administration to address food insecurity.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here .

*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from Reuters can be found here ***