What was claimed
A 13-year-old boy named Harley Steward has gone missing and this has been reported to police, with Facebook users in various UK locations warned to look out for him.
Our verdict
Police forces in these areas say they have no record of any such missing person.
Local Facebook groups across the country have been warned to look out for a 13-year-old boy named Harley Steward who has supposedly gone missing—but police forces in the areas concerned say they have no record of any such case.
The reports appeared in two Facebook groups for Sheffield, but South Yorkshire Police told Full Fact that it has no record of anyone by that name from South Yorkshire going missing this year, and it has not shared any appeals from other forces for any missing person with that name.
The posts from June said, in part: “MISSING TEEN It takes two seconds to share! Sheffield.
“13-year-old Harley Steward has been missing for 48 hours after he left his friend’s home. Unfortunately, there is still no sign of him. We are asking for the community's help.”
Join 72,953 people who trust us to check the facts
Sign up to get weekly updates on politics, immigration, health and more.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.
While the posts aren’t explicit about how, when and where ‘Harley Steward’ supposedly went missing, they appear to suggest it has happened locally. Both also say “his mom [sic] is currently with the police”.
Similar posts worded identically except for the location have also been shared in local community Facebook groups for residents in Manchester, Hatfield in Hertfordshire, Chipping Sodbury in Gloucestershire and Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. Greater Manchester Police, Hertfordshire Constabulary, Avon and Somerset Police and Northamptonshire Constabulary all confirmed they had no record of any such missing person.
While we’ve not been able to trace the photos used with the posts, and we can’t say for sure that the posts don’t relate to a genuine missing person appeal somewhere at one time, we’ve found no other evidence to suggest that they do.
We regularly see posts falsely raising the alarm about missing children, elderly people and injured dogs in Facebook community groups. Such hoaxes can damage people’s trust in local community news, because groups can become overwhelmed with false information. As a result, genuine posts may be ignored or dismissed as false.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as missing context because police say they have no record of any such missing person in these locations.
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.