CLAIM: Shahzada Dawood, one of the passengers who died in the Titan submersible, was the vice-chairman of the World Economic Forum.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. A page on the World Economic Forum’s website listed Dawood as “Vice-Chairman, Engro Corporation, Dawood Hercules,” referring to his family’s firms, not the forum itself. Dawood was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Family Business Community, but wasn’t an employee, a spokesperson said.
THE FACTS: Dawood, a prominent Pakistani businessman, and his son were among the four passengers and pilot on board the OceanGate submersible, Titan, which officials now say imploded near the wreckage of the Titanic.
Social media users shared a range of false claims this week. Here are the facts: A clip of President Joe Biden purportedly admitting to selling “state secrets” was edited to omit when he said he was joking.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Meat grown in labs is made using cells taken from animals, but those cells are not cancerous and there are many safeguards in place to ensure that the end product is safe to consume, experts told The Associated Press. The false claim stems from the fact that, like cancer cell
CLAIM: Rare malaria cases reported in Florida and Texas recently were caused by a disease-control initiative backed by Bill Gates that involved releasing genetically modified mosquitoes in the U.S.
A day before the U.S. Coast Guard announced the passengers’ fate, some social media users shared a page from the forum’s website, falsely claiming it showed Dawood was the organization’s leader. The Geneva-based think tank and event organizer — best known for hosting an annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland — is a frequent subject of conspiracy theories.
“What is the coincidence that the father and the son that are trapped on this contraption right here, in this tin can, are part of an organization that us Americans and Canadians all despise?” a man said in a June 21 Instagram video with more than 3,000 likes as of Thursday.
“He is part of the World Economic Forum. He is also the vice chairman of World Economic Forum,” he continued, displaying a screenshot of the webpage about Dawood on the World Economic Forum website.
However, that is not what the forum’s page says. It says “Vice-Chairman, Engro Corporation, Dawood Hercules.”
Engro Corporation is a Pakistani conglomerate that works in multiple industries, including energy and agriculture. It is owned by Dawood Hercules Corp., his family’s firm.
Yann Zopf, a spokesperson with the World Economic Forum, confirmed to The Associated Press that Dawood is not the vice chairman or an employee. Dawood is also not featured on the WEF leadership page.
Zopf noted that Dawood was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Family Business Community and attended some of the events in this capacity. The Family Business Community connects “prominent family business leaders worldwide,” according to its website.
Engro Corp is also listed as a World Economic Forum partner, which allows businesses to participate in the organization’s centers and events for networking.
Pages on the WEF website like the one featuring Dawood are created for any person who has ever attended a WEF event or has written a blog posted on the site, Zopf previously told the AP.
The U.S Coast Guard said in a news conference on Thursday that the Titan’s implosion likely occurred near the Titanic shipwreck.
The five others who perished include a renowned Titanic expert, a world-record holding adventurer, and Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate and the pilot of the vessel.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
