Doctored headline wrongly states 500 million refugees are about to arrive in Europe

A screenshot made to look like a New York Post article has been circulating on social media stating that 500 million refugees are about to arrive in Europe. Euronews has fact-checked these claims.

Many social media users sharing a screenshot of a supposed New York Post headline stating that the United Nations have issued a stark warning about a massive influx of refugees from Africa soon arriving to Europe. 

No trace of article online

The screenshot did not include the New York Post logo but used the same typeface and credited a real reporter from the newspaper. 

After searching the New York Post website, Euronews did not find any trace of this article. However, this article that was found was published on the same date, at the same time, and even by the same reporter. 

A spokesperson confirmed to Reuters and Associated Press that no such article was ever published and that this screenshot had been a doctored one. 

The UN says it has never issued this warning

In addition, Euronews spoke to a spokesperson of the UN Refugee Agency who confirmed that the agency had never released such a statement. 

But is Europe really facing a massive wave of immigration? For the moment, there’s no evidence of that. For example, the data from the International Organization for Migration shows that 50,630 refugees ⁠— from all countries not just from the African continent ⁠— have arrived in Europe so far in 2022. 

The same data set shows that 151,417 refugees from around the world arrived in Europe in 2021. These numbers are nowhere near the 500 million allegedly predicted in the fake headline.

Five hundred million is still over five times the total number of refugees in the world in 2021 according to the UNHCR.

Watch the report in the video player above.