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Posts targeting President Anura Kumara Dissanayake have been circulating steadily on social media, and only weeks ago a fake graphic falsely quoted a psychiatrist on his mental health. On the morning of October 24, a new one appeared, dressed in Newsfirst branding to look like breaking news: the President, it said, had been hospitalized with a sudden illness. Here are the posts that carried it.
Social Media Posts:
A series of posts published on the morning of October 24, carrying a photograph of the President and the official Newsfirst logo, claimed that the President had been hospitalized due to an illness.
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Claim examined: Was President Anura Kumara Dissanayake hospitalized due to a sudden illness on October 24?
Fact-Check:
None of the posts gave any detail about the story, and none pointed out a source for more information. They did not say which hospital, when, or what the illness was. Since the posts carried the official Newsfirst logo, we first checked whether Newsfirst had published such a post on its official Facebook page.
Newsfirst did not publish the post
Although the post carried the Newsfirst logo, our checks found that no such post had been published on October 24 on the Newsfirst Facebook page or on any of its other social media platforms. Newsfirst’s digital division manager also told us that the network had not published any such news and that the post was fake. Below is our earlier fact-check on similar fake posts made using the design of Newsfirst’s English social media posts.
We also checked whether any other mainstream media outlet had reported such news. None had reported that the President was hospitalized.
President’s Media Division confirms the post is false
We also checked the official websites of the President’s Media Division (PMD), its official Facebook page and the President’s Facebook page. The latest post at that time reported that the President had joined a review of the proposed Anuradhapura Sacred Area Development Project the previous day, October 23. It was published with photographs and video.
When we contacted the PMD about the post, it said the claim was completely false. The PMD said the President was in good health and carrying out his scheduled duties on October 24. Its statement on the false posts is below. The denial was also reported in English by Newswire.
Presidential Secretariat doctor confirms the President is in good health
Through the PMD, we spoke by phone to the doctor at the Presidential Secretariat and asked whether the President had been hospitalized as the posts claimed. The doctor said the claim was false and confirmed that the President had no illness and was in good health.
The President attended several public events in the days before
The PMD website shows that the President took part in a range of events over the previous few days. They included the 100th annual conference of the Government Surveyors’ Association and paying his last respects to Most Ven. Keppetiyagoda Siriwimala Nayaka Thero. Mainstream media also reported these events.
This confirms that, up to the afternoon before the posts appeared on October 24, the President attended planned public events and programmes, and no health issue had been reported.
Update: No hospital admission has been reported since. On October 26, the President posted a message on his official X account congratulating Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his election victory.
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Conclusion:
Our fact-check found that the social media posts claiming President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was hospitalized due to a sudden illness are false and were created to mislead the public. The posts used the Newsfirst logo, but Newsfirst confirmed it never published them.
The President’s Media Division and the doctor at the Presidential Secretariat both confirmed that the President was in good health and carried out his scheduled duties as usual on October 24.
