An Instagram post which has received thousands of likes shows a fake tweet from BBC World News from 20 May, claiming that Saudi Arabia is set to hold “International Straight Pride Month” in June 2022.
The supposed BBC tweet reads: “Saudi Arabia has announced its intention to hold “International Straight Pride Month” during June of 2022. A Saudi spokesperson explained that the event was designed to “celebrate those who follow the laws of God,” and that “straight men are discriminated against in many places.””
The BBC did not tweet this, and Saudi Arabia has announced no such plans.
Full Fact reviewed the @BBCWorld Twitter account and found no version of this tweet shared on 20 May, or on any other day. There is also no article about this supposed story on the BBC’s website, and we could find no other news coverage of any such announcement online.
The fake tweet appears to be a reference to Saudi Arabia’s restrictions on LGBTQ+ rights. Same-sex relationships are illegal in the country and can be punishable by death.
However, there is no evidence that the country has moved to organise an “International Straight Pride Month” to coincide with LGBT Pride Month, which takes place annually in several countries across the world in June.
We also found no reports of a Saudi spokesperson saying these quotes in this or any other context.
Fake tweets and articles claiming to be from BBC News accounts spread frequently on Facebook and other social media channels.
In this instance, there were a number of signs which indicated this tweet was likely to have been Photoshopped.
For instance, the tweet does not include a link to a BBC article, unlike almost all other tweets from the BBC World News account. The BBC logo featured on the image of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is also different from the logo usually seen in images accompanying articles shared by BBC World News.
Additionally, there are some subtle layout errors in the image, including the “blue tick” verification mark and the “@” symbol at the beginning of the BBC World News Twitter handle, both of which are slightly misaligned.