MARY ALEXANDER • 24 JUNE 2024

A study published in early June 2024 in the Nature Communications journal Earth & Environment suggests that global shipping regulations introduced in 2020 to cut polluting emissions from ocean-going ships by 80% caused higher temperatures across the world in 2023.

The study’s results were widely reported by news media across the world.

But it was quickly seized upon by climate change deniers as some kind of proof that human-caused global warming is a hoax.

“Almost All Recent Global Warming Caused by Green Air Policies – Shock Revelation From NASA,” reads a common claim circulating on Facebook.*

The Facebook page Climate change is natural had this to say:

The world of climate science is in shock following extraordinary findings from a team of high-powered NASA scientists that suggest most of the recent global temperature increases are due to the introduction of draconian fuel shipping regulations designed to help prevent global warming. The fantasy world of Net Zero is of course full of unintended consequences, but it is claimed that the abrupt 80% cut in sulphur dioxide emissions from international shipping in 2020 has accounted for 80% of global warming since the turn of the decade.

The post includes the hashtag #CostOfNetZero and a link to a Daily Sceptic article that repeats the claim, as well as a graphic with the words “Net Zero Watch”.

The claim also appears on the notorious disinformation site The People’s Voice. Over the years, fact-checkers have had to continually debunk claims made by this website.

But the study is in fact more proof of the influence human activities have on the Earth’s climate.

Sulphur dioxide cools the planet, not a ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas

The study found that the 2020 regulations drastically cut emissions of sulphur dioxide from ships. Sulphur dioxide is a global cooling gas.

The UK Guardian explains:

Until 2020, global shipping used dirty, high-sulphur fuels that produced air pollution. The pollution particles blocked sunlight and helped form more clouds, thereby curbing global heating. But new regulations at the start of 2020 slashed the sulphur content of fuels by more than 80%.

Climate scientists have warned for years that cutting sulphur emissions may contribute to global warming.

And net zero policies apply to the global warming – greenhouse – gases such as carbon dioxide. The policy is to reduce the amount of human-caused carbon in the atmosphere until it reaches the level it would have been without human activity.

The net zero initiative does not apply to sulphur dioxide.

Climate change is complex, and not all atmospheric gases are the same.

* Some Facebook and Instagram users may have deleted their posts after Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program rated their claims as untrue.

Published by Africa Check on 26 June 2024

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MARY ALEXANDER • 22 March 2024

“Klaus Schwab Says Humans Who Refuse To Merge With AI Will Soon Become Extinct,” reads the headline of a story on The People’s Voice, a known disinformation site, on 13 February 2024.

It adds: “World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab has warned that humans who refuse to merge with artificial intelligence (AI) will soon find that they have no place in society.”

A month later, the story was posted on X/Twitter by British conspiracy theorist and one-time Brexit Party candidate Jim Ferguson.

It then spread to social media in Nigeria, South Africa and elsewhere – here, here, here, here, here and here.*

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a global nonprofit that describes itself as the “international organisation for public-private cooperation”. It was founded by Klaus Schwab, its chairperson, in 1971.

It’s also a new target of conspiracy theories.

AI or artificial intelligence uses complex computer algorithms to perform some tasks otherwise done by people – generating text, writing code, creating images and videos, and more.

Africa Check has debunked claims by The People’s Voice – a site that keeps changing its name  – here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Like those, the claim that Schwab said people “who refuse to merge with AI” would “become extinct” is just made up.

Schwab on the need for ethical regulation of AI

The People’s Voice says Schwab issued his warning at the 2024 World Governments Summit.

The WEF founder did talk about AI and other emerging technologies at the summit, held in the United Arab Emirates in February.

He stressed the need for AI to be ethically regulated to ensure it benefitted people and society, and did not cause harm.

But the only thing he said that came closest to the claim was:

In the “new era”, human well-being will be prioritised through robotics and AI. At the core of this transformation, there is commitment to ensuring that the benefits of technological advancement are equally shared to bridge the digital gap within societies.

Schwab’s full 14-minute speech is on YouTube. At no point does he say “humans who refuse to merge with AI will soon become extinct”, or the less ominous “find that they have no place in society”.

See for yourself:

The People’s Voice claim is, yet again, false.

* Some Facebook and Instagram users may have deleted their posts after Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program rated their claims as untrue.

Published by Africa Check on 28 March 2024.

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MARY ALEXANDER • 21 FEBRUARY 2024

“Microsoft to disable computers of users who share ‘non-mainstream content’ online,” reads the headline of an article circulating on social media in Nigeria, South Africa, Somalia and elsewhere since early February 2024.*

The article was published on 3 February by The People’s Voice. The website, previously known as News Punch, is widely known to spread false information. The piece was then republished on Planet Today, another disinformation site.

It includes a photo of Bill Gates, a co-founder of the tech company Microsoft. Gates, a frequent target of conspiracy theories, stepped down from the Microsoft board in 2020.

Satya Nadella has been Microsoft’s chief executive since 2014.

The People’s Voice bases its entire claim – also seen here, here and here – on a four-minute interview with Nadella by Lester Holt, a journalist for US broadcaster NBC News.

The interview was uploaded on YouTube on 31 January with the title “Exclusive: Microsoft CEO Nadella on the promise and problems of A.I.”

Does Nadella reveal in the interview that Microsoft plans to disable computers used to post “non-mainstream content” online? And what exactly is “non-mainstream content”?

No mention of disabling computers

At no point in the interview does Nadella say his company would disable computers.

Instead, he discusses artificial intelligence and the challenge of disinformation in the run-up to the 2024 US elections, set for November.

The claim is simply false.

The People’s Voice article doesn’t say what it means by “non-mainstream content”. But it dismisses the idea of false information with phrases like “so-called ‘misinformation’” and “what [Nadella] identified as disinformation”.

It’s clear that “non-mainstream content” is just a clunky euphemism for what’s more widely known as fake news.

* Some Facebook and Instagram users may have deleted their posts after Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program rated their claims as untrue.

Published by Africa Check on 27 February 2024

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MARY ALEXANDER • 12 FEBRUARY 2024

“WEF Admits Disease X Will Be Unleashed In 2025,” reads the alarming headline of identical articles circulating on social media in Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and elsewhere since late January 2024.*

WEF is the World Economic Forum, an organisation that encourages governments and the private sector to cooperate on important global issues. It is often the target of false conspiracy theories.

The article was published on 23 January by The People’s Voice. The website, previously known as News Punch, is widely known to spread huge amounts of false information.

The piece has since been republished on several other websites and blogs. Its blurb reads: “The World Economic Forum (WEF) has declared that ‘Disease X’ will be unleashed onto the public by the year 2025 – and the consequences will be devastating for humanity.”

The claim also appears here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

It echoes the thoroughly debunked Plandemic conspiracy theory that the global Covid outbreak was somehow secretly planned by global elites that included drug companies, Bill Gates and the World Health Organization (WHO).

But Disease X doesn’t exist. And WEF didn’t “admit” that it would be “unleashed” in 2025.

Placeholder name for hypothetical disease

Disease X is simply a placeholder name for a possible unknown disease that may break out unexpectedly. It’s used in discussions about whether the world is prepared for another global pandemic and ways to reduce the harm of such an outbreak.

The name was first coined in the WHO’s 2018 review of diseases in urgent need of research and development, known as the R&D Blueprint.

The blueprint aims to reduce the time between when a serious disease is declared a public health emergency and when diagnostic tests, vaccines and other treatments become available. It came out of the 2014 Ebola outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa and spread to a few cases in the US and Europe.

The 2018 R&D Blueprint lists eight diseases in “urgent need” of “accelerated research and development”. Seven are existing diseases, such as Ebola, Zika and Sars. The eighth is the unknown Disease X, which simply represents the “awareness that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently not recognized to cause human disease”.

Disease X not only doesn’t exist – it never will. Once a previously unknown disease becomes known, it will be given its own name.

‘Preparing for Disease X’ session at WEF annual meeting

On 17 January 2024, the WEF’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland held a session titled “Preparing for Disease X”. Participants included WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus.

Its description reads: “With the World Health Organization continuing to research the potential of so-called ‘Disease X’, what novel efforts are needed to prepare healthcare systems for the multiple challenges ahead?”

At no point in the session did any of the speakers “admit” that Disease X would be “unleashed” in 2024.

The claim is false.

* Some Facebook and Instagram users may have deleted their posts after Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program rated their claims as untrue.

Published by Africa Check on 14 February 2024

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