FACT CHECK: Did BBC News Report That Emmanuel Macron Warned Europe Of An Influx Of 60 Million Refugees?

Elias AtienzaApril 20, 2022

An image shared on Facebook claims BBC News reported French President Emmanuel Macron warned Europe of an influx of 60 million refugees in 20 years due to an economic collapse in Africa.

Verdict: False

The tweet is digitally fabricated. A BBC spokesperson confirmed the outlet did not send such a tweet.

Fact Check:

Macron is running for a second term against far-right French politician Marine Le Pen, according to CNN. Both advanced to the second round after being the top-two vote-getters in the first round of France’s election, the outlet reported.

The image, an alleged screenshot of a BBC News tweet, claims Macron said that Europe should be “ready to accept up to 60 million refugees.” The purported screen grab features a photo of Macron and includes a BBC News watermark in the corner.

“France’s President Macron tells re-election audience, ‘Europe needs to be prepared to take up to 60 million refugees, over the next 20 years, from Africa and the Middle East,’” reads part of the alleged tweet. It goes on to warn of an impending economic collapse in Africa due to sanctions placed on the Russian economy by world powers.

The tweet is digitally fabricated. No such tweet appears on BBC News’ verified Twitter account nor do any archived screenshots of the BBC News Twitter account contain any tweet similar to the one depicted in the Facebook post.

The formatting of the tweet is also incorrect. The tweet exceeds Twitter’s 240-character limit. (RELATED: Did BBC News Report That Ukraine Was Responsible For The Kramatorsk Train Station Attack?)

No such article covering Macron’s purported statement appears on the BBC News website, though the photo used in the fake tweet does appear in an April 11 video thumbnail covering the run-off election in France.

“This isn’t a BBC article and we encourage audiences to visit the BBC News website if they’re unsure if a story is real,” a spokesperson from the outlet told Check Your Fact via email.

This isn’t the first time BBC News has been the target of misinformation related to the conflict in Ukraine. Check Your Fact recently debunked a video, purportedly attributed to BBC News, that blamed Ukraine for the Kramatorsk train station attack.