Old photo of Meng Wanzhou shared in false posts about her 'removing electronic ankle bracelet'

This article is more than one year old.
Published on October 18, 2021 at 11:01
2 min read
By AFP Hong Kong

A photo of Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou has been shared hundreds of times in multiple social media posts that claim it shows her removing her electronic ankle bracelet before returning to China. The posts circulated after a Canadian court halted extradition proceedings against Meng and relaxed her bail conditions, enabling her to return home. But the image has been shared in a false context: it has circulated in reports since May 2020 about Meng's appearance at a court in British Columbia.

The photo was published here on Twitter on September 25, 2021.

It appears to show two people reaching towards Meng's electronic ankle bracelet.

The post has been retweeted more than 80 times.

A screenshot, taken on October 15, 2021, of the misleading post.

"Latest photo: Meng Wanzhou is removing an electronic ankle bracelet. Today she will return to her motherland to reunite with her relatives," the post's simplified Chinese-language caption reads.

The post circulated online on the same day a Canadian court halted extradition proceedings against Meng and relaxed her bail restrictions, essentially releasing her and putting a nearly three-year legal saga to an end.

She was originally arrested on December 1, 2018 on a US warrant for alleged sanctions-breaking dealings with Iran while changing planes in Vancouver, AFP reported here.

She spent three years under house arrest in Canada while fighting extradition to the United States.

An identical photo was shared on Twitter, Weibo and Facebook alongside a similar claim.

The claim is false.

A reverse image search on Google found the same photo published here on May 25, 2020 in a news report from the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, a national public broadcaster.

The news report's headline reads: "Premature victory lap? Meng Wanzhou poses ahead of momentous court decision".

A screenshot, taken on October 15, 2021, of the photo published in CBC's news report.

"Friends assist Meng with her GPS ankle monitoring bracelet as she prepares for photographs in front of the B.C. Supreme Court building," the photo's caption reads.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading post (L) and the photo published in the CBC's news report (R):

A screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading post (L) and the photo in CBC's news report.

The article also refers to a "celebratory weekend photoshoot on B.C. court steps".

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail

Old photo of Meng Wanzhou shared in false posts about her 'removing electronic ankle bracelet'

YouTube