What was claimed
Toby Carvery is offering two free meals to people who share and comment on a Facebook post.
Our verdict
Neither the post nor the page it appears on are affiliated with the Toby Carvery restaurant chain.
Toby Carvery is not giving away free meals to people who comment on a Facebook post
12 April 2023
A Facebook post falsely claims that the restaurant chain Toby Carvery is offering two free meals to people who share and comment on it.
Toby Carvery is owned by the company Mitchells & Butlers, which told Full Fact that it has no connection with the page or post in question.
The post, which has over 3,000 shares and almost 10,000 comments at the time of writing, says: “Here at Toby Carvery we wanted to show you how much we care as we know times haven't been easy this year so for the school Easter holidays we have decided that everybody who has $hared&¢ommented in the 10 day time frame from now will be given with a 𝐹𝑅𝐸𝐸 meal for 2 that can be used at breakfast, lunch or dinner at any location [sic].”
While the post claims to be from Toby Carvery itself, it was published by a page called ‘Toby Carvery UK Fans’, which was created on 8 April 2023.
A spokesperson for Mitchells & Butlers told us the restaurant chain had no connection with the supposed offer or the page in question, and said: “Where possible, we take steps to report such pages—however sometimes they stay active for longer than they should so please be cautious.
“If you encounter these pages, please do not engage and report the page as soon as you can.”
A good clue that the deal itself is not genuine is that it has not been shared by the official Toby Carvery page, which has over 477,000 followers on Facebook.
We’ve written previously about Facebook pages making false claims about giveaways from Toby Carvery, as well as other companies such as Wetherspoons and Greggs, as part of our work fact checking online misinformation.
Image courtesy of Roy Hughes
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 false because Toby Carvery has confirmed it is not running this offer and it is not affiliated with the page it appears on.