False information often spreads like wildfire, obscuring truth leading to public deception, provocation and in some cases chaos. While fact-checkers have identified an essential task in debunking these narratives, some never seem to die.
The trend of recycling claims has become common in recent times largely due to the role played by social media. It is recycling because these are claims that just won’t die, despite having been debunked several times. Despite these debunks, such claims are often recirculated in multiple African countries over the years.
GhanaFact has identified three such claims that have recirculated for at least the last 14 years and will highlight them in this narrative report.
The case of poisonous Dew bottled water
In 2011, alarming information began spreading through text messages about a poisonous bottled water brand named Dew water. The claim first went viral in Nigeria, and subsequently in Ghana, with a warning that 180 people had died from drinking Dew water.
The message initially read: “I cannot verify this story, but this is an alert. Just got this from a friend that works with the Customs and Excise in Nigeria. There is a bottled water killing people. The name is DEW. Please do not buy/drink. It is contaminated with dangerous chemicals that destroy one’s body system. 180 died in Tanzania. It is in the Nigerian market, pass it on.”
In reaction, the Nigerian Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) immediately debunked the claim in a June 26, 2011, statement, describing it as false and mischievous (find here).
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Meanwhile, before NAFDAC debunked it, on June 25, 2011, Ghana Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) proactively debunked the ‘poisonous Dew bottled water brand’ claim, which was circulating in Nigeria.
According to the FDA, the rumour was false, after post-market surveillance activities and contacts with the NAFDAC of Nigeria and the Tanzanian Bureau of Standards.
Fourteen years later, GhanaFact found that the claim was recirculating in other African countries, including Namibia, Tanzania (Tanzania, where the “poisonous” water brand originated), and back to Ghana and Nigeria ( here and here). After it was debunked in 2011, it reappeared in 2019, 2020, 2023, and 2025.
The message was also slightly modified to read:
“Urgent; pls pass this to any loved ones—just got this information now. Please don’t buy or drink any bottled water called “DEW. “Customs said it was shipped into Nigeria from Tanzania, where it has killed 180 people. It is said to contain a poisonous chemical. Please pass this on and save millions. If you don’t believe, check Google for “DEW bottled water. “Save lives as I just saved yours.”
The exact origins of this Dew water claim remains unknown till date, but what is consistent is its appearance almost every year.
“I’m very familiar with this style of claim. It’s what we at Africa Check like to call a “zombie claim” (because no matter how many times we debunk them, they just won’t die). It’s very likely that a majority of the people sharing these claims genuinely believe them, or simply haven’t taken the time to check whether they are true or not.
“Even if these messages begin as disinformation (false information deliberately shared by people who know it is false), they very quickly become misinformation (false information shared unknowingly by people who believe it is true).
“Convincing people to believe a false claim and begin sharing it organically is typically one aim of a disinformation campaign,” said Keegan Leech, a researcher with Africa’s foremost fact-checking organisation, Africa Check.
The claim that Swazi King orders men to marry five wives or risk a jail term
In May 2019, false narratives began spreading on X (formerly Twitter) that the eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) King had ordered men in the southern African country to marry five wives or face a jail term.
The news spread fast and was shared by platforms such as the “Happy Africans” Facebook page and Global News, a website publication that now appears to have been deleted.
GhanaFact found a debunk by Pesa Check and Africa Check of this claim in 2019, which referenced a statement from the eSwatini government denying any such orders, and terming it as malicious and an insult to the monarchy and culture of eSwatini.
But that did not stop people from resharing the false claim. GhanaFact observed that in 2022, 2024, and recently in 2025, it has resurfaced on social media.
“Some of these messages may have begun as disinformation; it’s certainly possible to profit off of outrageous claims like this. (For example, by publishing the claims on a web page that you can use to generate advertising revenue.) Although it’s also possible that they began as well-intentioned warnings, using their outrageous tone to encourage sharing.
“Lots of people feel that it is worth sharing warnings ‘just in case’ they turn out to be true, and pass on messages without fact-checking them first, so long as the messages sound urgent and would be difficult or time-consuming to verify,” Keegan told our team.
A viral claim of mandatory DNA testing
In June 2025, GhanaFact came across claims suggesting that the Government of Ghana intends to introduce mandatory DNA testing from January 2026.
The claims had gone viral on X, Facebook, and TikTok, showing the image of the Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah-Akandoh, which seemed to suggest that the government had issued directives for mandatory DNA testing at birth.
When GhanaFact conducted its investigation, we found that it was one of those hoaxes that have been debunked across other African countries.
In South Africa, for instance, the false claim that the government was planning mandatory DNA testing began in 2016. We also found similar false claims about compulsory or mandatory “DNA testing” in Nigeria and Kenya that were circulated between 2022 and 2024 (here, here, and here).
Conclusion
GhanaFact observed that these claims sometimes appear to have a few things in common: they tend to come without specifics, such as dates or sometimes the time frame, which therefore makes it seem relevant to any given day (the poisonous Dew bottled water claims are a good example).
Or other times, they are attributed to an authoritative figure, like a government official, intending to give some legitimacy to the false claim.
Social media has made sharing of such content even easier, especially in closed groups like WhatsApp and Telegram. Media literacy will be a good first step but fact-checkers will have to remain ready to always deal with substantive and recurrent misinformation as best as they can.
Researched by Gifty Danso
