Claim: A Twitter user shared a video of a young man beaten for allegedly being gay in Uganda.
Verdict: FALSE. Our findings show that the video is from Nigeria, not Uganda. The victim was being flogged for taking meth, not for being gay.
Full Text
Although some African countries like South Africa, Angola and Mozambique have legalised same-sex marriage, same-sex partners still face discrimination in many parts of the world.
Recently, a Twitter user, Get_up (@humb__le), shared a video, purportedly from Uganda, of a young man flogging another man said to be gay before onlookers.
“This is what Uganda is doing to homosexualities, beating them in a pub and other punishments. What your options upon this?” she tweeted.
As of April 3, 2023, the tweet had attracted over 400 comments, 300 retweets and 300 likes, with a view of over 34,000 Twitter users.
A Twitter user, Obidient ZADDICHUKWU (@offucialsuggay7), however, disagreed with the narrative. He attached to his comment a video said to be the original video.
“Original video!! This is why I don’t believe anything I see on this app,” he commented.
King Marvel (@marvelnsa) also disagreed with the context attached to the video.
“Fake video to steer up debate,” he tweeted.
DUBAWA decided to fact-check the claim because it is a human rights issue, it is viral, and the context of the video has been questioned.
Verification
DUBAWA ran the video through InVID, a video verification tool that helps validate videos by breaking them down into keyframes. Invid provided some keyframes, and a reverse image search revealed a similar picture.
This picture was from a video shared by some Nigerian blogs, including Naija Blog, News Naira and Naija News in 2021, with an entirely different narrative.
The post from News Naira, specifically mentioned the type of drug being traded in the community.
“Youths Flogged In Imo For Taking ‘Mkpuru Mmiri’ Drugs (Photos),” the post reads.
What is ‘Mkupuru Mmiri’?
Punch Newspaper revealed in an article that ‘Mkupuru Mmiri’ is also known as Methamphetamine in medical terms. Meth can be smoked, snorted, injected, or taken orally and is often used with other substances.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) describes methamphetamine (meth) as a synthetic stimulant that is addictive and can cause considerable health adversities that can sometimes result in death.
Meanwhile, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act states that abusing drugs by smoking, inhaling or injecting shall be guilty of an offence on conviction to imprisonment for a term not less than fifteen years but not exceeding 25 years.
Conclusion
Our findings show that this video is from Nigeria, not Uganda, and the victim was being flogged for taking meth, not for being gay. Hence, the claim is false.
