A video purporting to show a mermaid captured in South Africa has gone viral.
Verified accounts on twitter, including Udu Mmili Omabala (“@UduMmili1“) claimed that the video is of a Black Mermaid from South Africa. The tweet has reached to an about 19.4k views. The archive can be read from above.
Mermaid 🧜♀️ caught in South Africa 🇿🇦 👀🇿🇦#CeasefireNow #LALISA #latelate #LUFC #MARKXYSLBEAUTY Nigerian Police RIP Legend #CHEARS Biafra Arewa Simon Ekpa Killaboi #Gaza_Genocide #Israel_under_attack #Israel Arsenal Man City Partey King of Afrobeats pic.twitter.com/ohWCLGVnjS
— Udu Mmili Omabala (@UduMmili1) October 21, 2023
The same clip also went viral a year ago. @OmphileBopheloo claimed that the real mermaid was caught by fishermen in South Africa, Muizenberg.
@black_earth_245 tweeted “MERMAID IN KWALE COUNTY IN KENYAN COST reports of alleged mermaid spotted in Kenya, that are circulating on social media” sharing the same video on April 8,2022.
MERMAID IN KWALE COUNTY IN KENYAN COST
— Simon Trevor🇺🇲 (@black_earth_245) April 8, 2022
reports of alleged mermaid spotted in Kenya, that are circulating on social media pic.twitter.com/Hk4eEwQWG8
What is the truth about the Mermaid Video that went Viral? : Fact
In actuality, this video is untrue and has not been authenticated. Similar claims from Kenya and South Africa were also reported in April of last year, 2022, however officials in both countries have denied any reports of mermaids being discovered on the beach.
NTV Kenya (“@ntvkenya“) confirmed that reports of mermaid sightings in Kwale are untrue and fake as claimed by the Police. Coast Regional Commissioner and Kwale County Commander have dismissed the videos as lies. The tweet was made on April 7,2022.
Reports indicating that a mermaid has been spotted in Kwale are fake, police say pic.twitter.com/H6RVpxrd45
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) April 7, 2022
We visited Snopes which published an article on this incident on April 12, 2022. This video, which dates back to April 6, was shared on TikTok with the assertion that a “real mermaid” had been “caught in Muizenberg, South Africa.” There have been almost 8 million views of that video. This video is probably a composite that was edited digitally using real footage of a dying fish and digitally inserted visuals of a doll or toddler. If the video is watched closely, it can be observed that the sand become less textural as the “mermaid’s” arms glide over the beach. The fingers even vanish at one point, suggesting that the “mermaid’s body” was added digitally to this clip.
A spokesperson said: “Please note that Muizenberg SAPS has no reports of a mermaid that was washed by the beach nor reports of a child bitten by a fish” as mentioned in the article. The report has been denied by officials in both Kenya and South Africa, indicating that the video has been altered, and no news stories have been released regarding the extremely significant and historic discovery of a half-fish, half-man mermaid species in Africa.
D-Intent’s Fact-Checking Results:
1240
— D-Intent Data (@dintentdata) October 22, 2023
ANALYSIS: Fake
FACT: A video showing a mermaid-like creature has been shared claiming a Mermaid caught in South Africa. The truth is that this video is unverified and not true. It was also shared last year in April 2022 with similar claims from Kenya and South Africa, (1/2) pic.twitter.com/jMKG3zmeM0
Intent:
Influencers are sharing videos that have been digitally manipulated and made up of lies in order to gain attention on social media.
Conclusion:
Claim : A video purporting to show a mermaid captured in South Africa has gone viral.
Fact : The video is false and has not been authenticated. It was also shared in April 2022 with comparable allegations from South Africa and Kenya.
