Tom Hanks Wasn’t Arrested for Child Pornography
The Claim
Actor Tom Hanks was arrested for 135 counts of child pornography.
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Emerging story
Last week, a screenshot of a BBC article started circulating on social media.
The article alleges that Tom Hanks was arrested for possessing child pornography. Some users say that the article was mysteriously removed from the BBC’s website shortly after it appeared.
Tom Hanks is the subject of numerous conspiracies. They range from claims that he’s a child sex trafficker associated with Hillary Clinton to the claim that he’s about to be executed in Guantanamo Bay.
Misbar’s Analysis
There’s also no evidence that the circulating existed at all. As is often acknowledged by social media users, it can’t be found on BBC’s website. However, it is not currently on the BBC, but it’s never been on the BBC ever.
The screenshot lists several other articles, which are still present on the website. They were written on June 18, 2021. Since the screenshot was taken on the BBC’s front page, we can surmise that the Tom Hanks articles should have been published on the same date. A search on the internet archive, which catalogs the various changes on any given webpage, shows a different article on the front page.
The article is about how COVID-19 vaccines help people. Interestingly, underneath the thumbnail are bullet points. They correlate with those in the fake image: there’s one about getting the second jab, another about COVID-19 questions, and one more about lockdowns. Those bullet points are pretty out of place in an article about Tom Hanks, but not one about COVID-19.
The fake image is a photoshopped BBC homepage on June 18, 2021.
