By: Soham Shah
January 19 2024
Video of Davos 2024 'speaker' insulting WEF founder Klaus Schwab is edited
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A post sharing an edited video purportedly showing a WEF participant abusing Klaus Schwab. (Source:Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)
Fact-Check
The Verdict Fake
The viral clip was doctored to create a false impression. It is the brainchild of Damon Imani, a Denmark-based artist, who made the video as satire.
Claim ID 145fa626
What is the claim?
A video circulated on social media platforms, including Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter), claims that a participant at the World Economic Forum (WEF) criticized its founder, Klaus Schwab. In the video, reportedly taken at the 2024 Davos event, a speaker allegedly stands at the podium and declares, “F**k you Klaus Schwab, and f**k your new world order. We the people were born free and will stay free, and you, along with your globalist friends – including everyone in this room – can go f**k yourselves.”
Schwab and a woman are seemingly shown listening to the speech before walking offstage. Archived links to these posts are available here, here, here, and here.
Posts on Facebook and X (Source: Facebook, X/Modified by Logically Facts)
However, our investigation revealed that this video was created as a satire but is being misrepresented as authentic by social media users, without context.
What is the truth?
The video's top left corner features a watermark reading ‘Damon Imani’. Utilizing this clue, we discovered the video on Imani’s X account, dated January 17, 2024, captioned “BREAKING: New WEF participant does the unthinkable at 2024 Davos Meeting.”
We saw that Imami had later clarified in a reply to this video, “Satire but true. This video is also available on Rumble here, and Klaus Schwab can go f**k himself.”
The speaker in the video is Imani himself, as verified by comparing his photos on social media and his appearance in other videos.
Imani also posted a follow-up video, supposedly showing the same ‘speaker’ now ‘apologizing’ for his remarks at the Davos meeting. Responding to an X account that shared his video, Imani reiterated, “Satire but very true.”
Imani, a video content creator, is known for his satirical work. His website describes him as “an Iranian producer and artist based in Denmark, who creates content on various topics, including societal issues, news, and current events.”
What does the original video show?
We located a video titled “Welcoming Remarks and Special Address” on the WEF website, dated January 16, 2024. The moment when Schwab rises from his seat at 5:36 in the WEF video corresponds to the 0:19 timestamp in the viral video. The viral video's ending, showing Schwab and Amherd exiting the stage, matches the 24:15 timestamp in the WEF video.
Comparison of the viral video and WEF video. (Source: X, WEF)
The original WEF video features Børge Brende, President of the WEF, at the podium, with Schwab and Viola Amherd, President of the Swiss Confederation 2024, as audience members. Both deliver speeches in the WEF video.
Imani, who appears to be speaking onstage in the viral video, is not present in the original. The viral video was created by superimposing Imani over Brende, creating the illusion that Schwab and Amherd witnessed his speech.
Logically Facts has contacted Imani for a comment, and this story will be updated upon receiving a response.
Schwab and the WEF have frequently been subjects of conspiracy theories, such as the ‘New World Order.'
The verdict
This is an edited version of a video from the WEF’s 2024 Annual Meeting at Davos, featuring welcoming remarks and a special address. It was created by a content creator who has acknowledged its satirical intent. Nevertheless, several social media users have been mistakenly sharing it as factual.