Brighton & Hove Albion football club manager Roberto De Zerbi shared an Instagram story expressing “support for the Palestinian cause”.
Brighton & Hove Albion has confirmed that the account which shared the story is not associated with Mr De Zerbi, and the account appears to have since been deleted or removed.
We’ve seen a number of posts on social media claiming Brighton & Hove Albion football club manager Roberto De Zerbi posted a story on Instagram expressing “support for the Palestinian cause”.
The club has confirmed that the account which posted the story is not associated with Mr De Zerbi, and it appears to have since been deleted or removed.
A screenshot circulating on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) shows an Instagram story posted by an apparently verified account with the username @robtzerbi, which reads: “I support the Palestinian cause, and I hope that it will return to what it was, and I hope that Sudan will return to what it was, and that peace will prevail on the lands of Sudan, and I hope that peace will last throughout the Arab and Muslim countries.”
The false post has been shared amidst the current conflict between Israel and Hamas.
In a statement issued via its Instagram account, Brighton & Hove Albion said: “Roberto and the club are aware of the fake verified Instagram account @robtzerbi.
“This account is not run by Roberto or his representatives and has absolutely no association with him.
“We have asked Meta to take the account down as soon as possible.”
We’ve contacted Meta to ask whether and why this account was verified.
We often fact check viral fake social media posts, including those imitating politicians and other public figures or organisations. Posts like these can spread fast and far, and are difficult to contain and correct.
Image courtesy of TVSEI
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 Brighton & Hove Albion football club has confirm the Instagram account which shared this story is not associated with Roberto De Zerbi.
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