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  • 2022-05-31 (xsd:date)
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  • Child attacked at US daycare in 2018, not by abusive stepmom in South Africa (en)
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  • A widely shared post purports to show pictures of a toddler who was allegedly almost beaten to death by his stepmother in South Africa. But the claim is misleading: AFP Fact Check found the child was attacked in a US daycare centre in 2018. An investigation found that the attack appeared to have been carried out by another child. A Facebook post , which has garnered more than 4,100 shares since it was published on May 27, 2022, features pictures of an infant with a badly scratched and bruised face. The baby was badly beaten by the Step mother yesterday had beaten up my daughter meslesly almost to death because she peed on the bedsheets she washed 2days ago (sic) , the post’s caption reads. It adds that the toddler was rushed to the hospital with internal bleeding. A screenshot of the misleading Facebook post (with images blurred by AFP), taken May 30, 2022 Hundreds of users in the comment section believed the abuse claims in the post and voiced their anger. A screenshot of the comments, taken on May 30, 2022 Another post on a South African Twitter account shared the same photos, saying: I fail to understand how a woman can beat another woman's child like this. A screenshot of the misleading tweet (with images blurred by AFP), taken May 30, 2022, taken on May 30, 2022 This didn't happen in South Africa it happened at in America the kid was beaten at a Day Care why do you guys like spreading fake news (sic) , wrote one user in response to the tweet on May 28, 2022. This comment led AFP Fact Check to find US media reports from 2018 featuring the same photos. Indianapolis daycare investigation According to US media reports , on May 11, 2018, a one-year-old boy was attacked at an Indianapolis day care centre, leaving him with a scratched and swollen face. The boy’s parents initially thought a worker at the centre may have been behind the attack due to the severity of his wounds. According to Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry, a medical expert found that the child's injuries were consistent with having been carried out by another child. No criminal charges were filed but the centre was ordered to cease operations. AFP Fact Check has previously debunked similar claims involving pictures of injured or sick children to trigger an emotional response that leads to the spread of viral misinformation ( here and here ). (en)
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