False: The World Economic Forum is going to freeze the bank accounts of meat-eaters.

By: Ishita Goel
July 8 2022

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Context

A viral post on social media alleges that the "World Economic Forum (WEF) will freeze the bank accounts of meat-eaters." It links to the website fml.lol, which credits an article from NewsPunch. NewsPunch reports that WEF director Klaus Schwab keeps track of people's carbon credit scores and plans to freeze their accounts when their carbon credit scores are used up. It further noted that one of the founders says this step is to educate people. The NewsPunch report insinuates that this purported initiative by Klaus Schwab is a part of the "Great Reset in the world of finance." However, there is no basis for this claim.

In Fact

NewsPunch is a Los Angeles-based news website known for fake news and reporting stories without any evidence. Website rating site Media Bias Fact Check (MBFC) rates NewsPunch with very low credibility and as a questionable source with consistent promotion of propaganda, conspiracies, and hoaxes.

Further, the WEF did not announce they would be freezing meat-eaters' bank accounts. In May 2019, the WEF announced a credit card with a carbon-emission spending limit. The article added a graph that shows "estimates based on average food production emissions for the U.S. Footprints include emissions from supply chain losses, consumer waste, and consumption." The graph illustrates that the highest carbon emissions come from meat consumption and production.

The WEF stated in a press release that a Swedish fintech company, Doconomy (DO), had launched a card that aims to monitor the carbon footprint of its customers; when they hit their carbon maximum, it cuts off their spending. Users can set a maximum carbon value and learn how to compensate for their carbon footprint. The card calculates the carbon footprint of each product purchased.

However, there is no mention of bank accounts involving meat-eaters being frozen. These claims are unfounded. The WEF has long been a target of conspiracy theorists, and misinformation linking the WEF, its founder Klaus Schwab, and "the Great Reset" theory has previously been debunked by Logically and other fact-checkers.

The Verdict

DO is a voluntary app, and its black card is yet to be officially released to the public. We have marked this claim as false as neither the card-issuing company nor the WEF claim they will block the bank accounts of meat-eaters. These claims are part of a more extensive conspiracy theory on the WEF's Great Reset initiative.