The claim: Video shows European Central Bank president discussing gene therapy at World Economic Forum conference
A Jan. 25 Facebook video (direct link, archived link) shows Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, speaking onstage at a World Economic Forum conference.
“We’re in the timeline right now where we’re seeing the first generation of mutated human DNA where it’s going to be leading to that timeline of humans evolving and mutating into becoming the greys, OK?” says the audio.
The video, taken from TikTok, was shared 100 times within two weeks. Another version of the video was viewed 11,000 times on TikTok.
Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks
Our rating: Altered
The audio track of the video has been altered. The original video shows Lagarde discussing economic policy and climate change. She does not mention gene therapy.
Original video shows talk of economic growth and energy consumption
The clip was taken from the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Switzerland in January. Lagarde’s remarks can be found in a video on the organization’s website titled “Global Economic Outlook: Is this the End of an Era?“
Lagarde speaks three times during the conversation. Once at the 23-minute mark, a second time at the 51-minute mark and again at the 55-minute mark. She does not mention genetics or gene therapy.
Fact check: US expenditure for the Afghanistan War surpasses aid given to Ukraine
Instead, she discusses the economic growth of different countries, monetary policies regarding climate change and how China’s COVID-19 policies have impacted the global economy.
There’s another hint that the video has been digitally fabricated. The voice in the Facebook post has an American accent, but Lagarde is French and speaks with a French accent, which is heard in the original video.
USA TODAY has debunked a slew of false claims about the World Economic Forum, including that the organization banned vaccinated pilots from flying conference attendees, announced a “new one world religion” and recommended killing pets to reduce carbon emissions.
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user for comment. They did not provide evidence to support the claim. The TikTok user could not be reached.
AAP Fact Check also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.
Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.
