There are dozens of men who are ordered to sit on the floor. Posts on social media indicate that this is a slave sale in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It’s true?
A video was posted on social media showing dozens of men being forced to sit on the ground, receiving an order from what appear to be uniformed soldiers. They would then “march” to a “beach” where they would be sold to work “in the mines” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the publication states, as context for the images that last approximately half a minute. These are several of the accusations present in some publications.
“Have they already closed any universities to combat the slave trade in 2024? They don’t have cute headscarves. [numa alusão aos palestinianos] nor are they being attacked by Jews”, denounces one mail on social networks.
Another publication highlights that Humanity still tolerates “modern slavery”, referring to the same images. The “slaves in the Congo” serve “the interests” of the Western mining sector, that is, that of North America and Western Europe.
However, the video does not show an alleged slave sale. Although this practice continues to occur in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, related precisely to the mining sector, the images shared in the different publications analyzed by the Observer were not even registered in that country.
The original video, before being spread as an alleged slave sale, was published on the TikTok account of user kingdbn97, who subtitled it: “This day is always memorable.” It also identified other users, one of them the Institute of Technology and Transportation Management, a military school in Lagos, Nigeria’s capital.
Now, that video actually took place at that institute in Lagos and not in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is part of an exercise for new students. “This is an exercise called ‘baptism’ for new cadets who have just been admitted to the school,” the school’s director, Cynthia Chidera Ahamefule, revealed to Agence France-Presse.
Conclusion
Although slavery practices continue to take place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the video posted on social media was originally posted by a member of the Nigerian Institute of Transport Management and Technology and showed a welcoming exercise for new students.
Thus, according to the Observer classification system, this content is:
MISTAKEN
In Facebook’s rating system, this content is:
FAKE: Claims about the main content are factually inaccurate. Generally, this option corresponds to “false” or “mostly false” ratings on fact-checking websites.
NOTE: This content was curated by Observador as part of a fact-checking partnership with Facebook.
Source: Observadora
