‘Misinformation’: Claims of NZ charges against Fauci debunked

The same claim proliferated across social media in Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia in early April. Many posts circulated among users in the United States.

Fauci, an immunologist who served as director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases between 1984 and 2022, came to wider attention at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when he was appointed to the White House coronavirus taskforce during the first term of US President Donald Trump.

After Joe Biden took office in January 2021, Fauci was appointed as his chief medical adviser, before stepping down in 2022.

He advocated measures such as social distancing and mask-wearing to prevent the spread of Covid, making him a target of misinformation and harassment.

Contrary to the viral Facebook posts, Fauci has not been charged in New Zealand, nor have any of the countries mentioned issued international arrest warrants for him.

‘Obviously not correct’

A keyword search found the claim appears to have originated from an article published on April 6 on the website AMG-News, which has previously promoted misinformation.

However, the article does not cite any sources from New Zealand or from the other countries mentioned in the social media posts.

A New Zealand police spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that Fauci was not under investigation or charged with any crime.

“It is very obviously not correct,” she said in an April 29 email.

Fauci’s name does not appear on the regularly updated Red Notice list from Interpol, which organises police co-operation between 196 member countries.

AFP also found no mention of Fauci’s indictment through advanced searches on the websites of the justice and police ministries for Brazil, South Africa, Italy, Hungary and the Philippines.

Misinformation target

AFP contacted Fauci and the press office at Georgetown University, where he works as a professor, for comment. A response was not forthcoming.

Shortly after the false claim of an alleged indictment spread online, Fauci appeared in public in the United States on April 8 and 14.

Since the beginning of his active involvement in the pandemic, he has faced numerous political attacks and calls for investigation from Republican officials.

Hours before the end of his term, Biden granted Fauci a pre-emptive pardon to shield him from “politically motivated prosecutions”.

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about Fauci.

-Agence France-Presse