The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) did not publish a post on social media quoting the French President Emmanuel Macron as saying that sanctions on Russia would lead to 60 million refugees arriving in Europe. The image is digitally altered and was not published by the outlet.
The image shows a social media post that appears to have been posted by the BBC on April 11, 2022, and reads: “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,” as he warns that sanctions on Russia are leading to economic collapse in Africa, which imports vast amounts of Russian wheat.”
One user shared the screenshot on Twitter and said: “Macron: "Europe needs to accept up to 60 million refugees." Who in these "democracies" want this?” (here)
Another said: “Macron: Europe must be ready to accept up to 60 million African & Middle-Eastern refugees over the next 20 years? Wow. Them Russian sanctions keep giving...” (archive.ph/wip/o4nGY)
Other examples of the image shared online can be viewed (here), (here), (here) and (here).
No such social media post was published by the outlet, however, a spokesperson for the BBC told Reuters.
“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,” the spokesperson said via email.
Reuters did not find the alleged Macron quote published on the BBC website (archive.ph/wip/4pvKM).
A Twitter advanced search did not reveal the post published by the BBC (bit.ly/3JTcFP2), (bit.ly/3vtKrVV).
Meanwhile, Reuters did not find any evidence that the French president made any such comment in response to sanctions imposed on Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Macron has repeatedly spoken in support of sanctions imposed on Russia since the beginning of the invasion (here), (here).
On April 8, 2022, Macron tweeted that Europe was imposing fresh sanctions on Russia (here).
A Google advanced search did not reveal any news article featuring the alleged quote. A search of the alleged quote only revealed a meme website, iFunny (archive.ph/wip/QWc03).
This is an example of imposter content, or content, such as an image or visuals, that impersonates content produced by a legitimate organization.
Reuters previously addressed a piece of imposter content that purported to show a CNN screenshot claiming that child soldiers are fighting Russian forces in eastern Ukraine (here).
VERDICT
Altered. The BBC did not publish an article or social media post quoting the French President Emmanuel Macron as saying that sanctions on Russia would lead to 60 million refugees arriving in Europe. The image is digitally altered and was not published by the outlet. Reuters similarly did not find any evidence to suggest that the French president made any such comment in relation to sanctions imposed on Moscow.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.