A lot of reports and claims have been doing the doing ever since the Evergreen Cargo ship Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal. Although Ever Given has safely been removed and rescued, claims fail to stop, amid the blame game between the canal authorities and the shipping company about whose fault led to the ship getting stuck.
However, one such claim that has been doing the rounds on social media since early April is that the US Navy SEALs rescued over a thousand trafficked children and dead bodies during the rescue operations. Since then, many have been trying to find out what actually happened during the rescue operations and if children were really being trafficked via Ever Given.
Damaging Claims
Last week, several social media users started copying and pasting an article claimed to be a breaking story. The news story revolved around the famous ship Ever Given that got stuck in the Suez Canal and remained stranded there for days. While operations were on to rescue the ship and its crew, the breaking story started doing the rounds on social media.
Most of the users coped and passed the same story that started with the sentence: "Over a thousand trafficked children and dead bodies have been rescued out of shipping containers in the Suez Canal by US Navy Seals." Those who read the article were left shocked, while many, still confused, tried to ascertain the truth behind the shocking claims.
The source of the news was Before It's News. While the claims went viral on social media with many users still confused, Ever Given last week was freed from Suez Canal after causing a major maritime traffic jam.
What's the Truth?
The claims of US Navy SEALs making a rescue operation made by the website Before It's News ran with the headline: "Trafficked Children, Bodies, Weapons Found on Evergreen Ship Blocking Suez Canal." In addition to being posted on Facebook, the content was also shared on TikTok.
A portion of the article also claimed recovery of "weapons of mass destruction" and included a purported "telegram" that read: "Ever Given has been boarded by the US Navy Seals and they have opened several cargo containers with live and dead inside. The vessel is in Bitter Lake and the Navy is performing unloading procedures. No images will be leaked, but I have been sent one."
However, fact is that Before It's News has always been considered website for making dubious claims and coming up with fake stories without any concrete evidence and facts. So much so that the unreliable website once published a story that falsely claimed Pope Francis had been found guilty of child trafficking and murder.
In this case too, the claims are completely false credible news publisher across the world reported anything similar. If there were any truth in the story, it would have called for global attention and international scrutiny. Unfortunately nothing of that sort happened.
The baseless trafficking claims were also similar to those covered in July 2020 when misleading social media posts were shared about the Wayfair online shopping website. Needless to say, despite only one website making such claims, many got confused while other started making the post viral without even trying to find the authenticity of the claims.
