Social media users claim a World Economic Forum website with a name and a photo of Tanzania’s new president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, is proof that she works for the organization and is therefore part of a ‘global coup’. . This statement is false.
Examples of posts sharing the claim can be seen (here, here) and (here).
The reports point to a headshot of Hassan being displayed on the World Economic Forum (WEF) website (here).
Users have claimed that this is proof that Hassan works for, or is a member of the WEF, and that she is linked to the death of her predecessor, former President John Magufuli.
Magufuli, who died of heart disease on March 17, was one of Africa’s most prominent coronavirus skeptics (here). The WEF, meanwhile, is the subject of conspiracy theories that maintain that it is using the pandemic to create a new world order.
“RIP President Magufuli, one of the only world leaders to rise up against the WHO and the WEF,” wrote one social media user who shared the screenshot. “Look at who is going to take Magufuli’s place and for whom she works … We are really in the middle of a global coup and most people are completely unaware.”
First, as previous Reuters fact checks have shown, the conspiracies over WEF are unfounded (here) (here) (here). This stems from a misinterpretation of an idea proposed by the forum, called ‘The Great Reset’, which notes that the pandemic is increasing inequality (here).
Instead of encouraging a global coup, the plan encourages governments to improve fiscal policies, implement overdue reforms (such as on wealth taxes) and insist on the efforts that boosted the health sectors in 2020, to repeat in other sectors and bring about an industrial revolution. .
Furthermore, Hassan does not work for the WEF, a forum spokesman told Reuters by email.
“Although the Forum does not have individual members, those who attended a meeting will find a bio page on the site,” they said, adding that Hassan attended their regional summit in 2010 and 2016.
VERDICT
Untrue. The President of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan, does not work for the World Economic Forum. Conspiracies linking WEF to a global coup are unfounded.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to control social media posts