Pants on Fire: WEF pro-pedophile treaty story is fabricated

An X post went viral after claiming that “LGBTQ+ Leaders Sign WEF Treaty to Accept Pedophiles as ‘Legally Protected Minority.” As of July 11, the post, which was first shared July 7, had garnered more than 900,000 views and was shared more than 7,000 times. 

The post, which includes a 10-minute news-anchor-style video, claims that “LGBTQ+ leaders are officially recognizing pedophiles as part of the club following World Economic Forum pressure to accept minor attracted persons as legally protected minorities.” 

But this claim is untrue. 

(Screenshot of X post) 

The video and headline were created by The People’s Voice (formerly News Punch and YourNewsWire), a website known as a prolific creator and spreader of misinformation. 

The People’s Voice has created several false headlines about pedophilia and the World Economic Forum, an international nongovernmental organization and think tank. 

In January 2023, The People’s Voice claimed the World Economic Forum was calling for the “decriminalization of sex with children.” This claim was debunked by fact-checkers who found the article included fabricated tweets, quotes, and evidence.

In March 2024, The People’s Voice claimed that the World Economic Forum declared pedophilia a sexual orientation to be added to the LGBTQ+ acronym. This claim was also debunked as False. We have rated False previous claims that LGBTQ+ advocacy groups are incorporating pedophile advocacy into their work. 

This latest claim about a “treaty” to accept pedophiles as a “legally protected minority” also has no basis in fact.

At no point during the post’s 10-minute video does The People’s Voice host, Sean Adl-Tabatabai, offer any evidence to support the claim or any details on the treaty. After the video’s first 20 seconds, the treaty and its supposed signing are never mentioned again. 

After reviewing the World Economic Forum’s website and news reports, PolitiFact could find no evidence such a treaty to “accept pedophiles as a legally protected minority” exists or that the World Economic Forum advocates for greater acceptance of pedophiles.

A World Economic Forum spokesperson told PolitiFact, “These claims are completely made up. The World Economic Forum has never made any statement of this kind.” 

After it was posted, the X post was tagged with a community note denoting the post as “fake news” and linking to a fact-check by The Associated Press. Community notes, which users submit, become public if “enough contributors from different points of view rate that note as helpful,” according to X. 

Our ruling

No evidence supports the claim that LGBTQ+ leaders signed a “WEF treaty to accept pedophiles as ‘legally protected minority.’” This fabricated claim originated on a website that frequently publishes false information. We rate this claim Pants on Fire!