A fabricated screenshot purporting to show a tweet by the World Economic Forum that says being against an insect-based diet is bigotry is circulating on social media.
The purported tweet is made to look as if it was sent by the Forum’s verified handle @wef on April 13, 2021. It reads: “When being anti-bug is bigotry: billions of people across the world eat insects as part of their daily diet. We ask: is it racist to not want to transition to a bug-based diet? [smiley emoji] [cricket emoji].”
Iterations posted on August 2022 can be found on Twitter (here) (here) and Facebook (here) (here) (here).
If you don’t want to eat bugs you are a racist pic.twitter.com/JQiwlGYQRa
— Indy2412🇦🇺🐘🌸 (@Indy24121) August 22, 2022
THE VERDICT:
False. There is no evidence the WEF Twitter account posted a message saying being against an insect-based diet is bigotry. A spokesperson for the Forum told Reuters the screenshot circulating online is not an authentic post from the WEF.
This article was produced by the WANANCHI INITIATIVE Fact Check team.