Recirculated report on Kuwait banning Filipino workers misleads users online
- Published on August 21, 2024 at 10:38
- 2 min read
- By Lucille SODIPE, AFP Philippines
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A TikTok clip posted on July 28, 2024 shared a news report by local media outlet One News captioned "Filipinos are banned from Kuwait!!"
A similar claim was shared on TikTok here and here; and on Facebook here, here, and here.
Comments on the posts show people believed the news report was recent.
"We can't work in Kuwait anymore," said one.
"The Kuwaiti government is sick in the head. They lifted the ban last month, now they're reimposing it?" another commented.
The news segment, however, dates to May 12, 2023, when it was posted on One News's official TikTok account (archived link).
"Filipinos banned in Kuwait! Filipinos were stopped from travelling to Kuwait. According to (their government), it will not accept new Filipino domestic workers," read the report's Tagalog-language caption.
Kuwait suspended all new visas for Philippine nationals in May 2023 amid a diplomatic spat following the murder of domestic worker Jullebee Ranara (archived link).
Her charred body was found in the Kuwaiti desert in January 2023, prompting Manila to stop sending first-time workers to Kuwait.
The case sparked a diplomatic row between the Philippines and Kuwait, home to a sizeable domestic worker population.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the original One News segment (right):
The visa ban on Philippine workers was lifted on June 24, 2024 (archived link).
A Kuwait interior ministry statement said the oil-rich Gulf state and Manila had reached an agreement to lift the ban and resume issuing visas to Filipinos (archived link).
This claim was also debunked by Philippine fact-check group PressOne.
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