Screenshot of Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu Apologising to Indians Is Fake

This screenshot is fake, no official statement or "an apology" has been released by Maldives' President.

Fact-check: A fake screenshot of Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu apologising to Indians on behalf of his ministers is being shared as real.

(Photo: The Quint)

A screenshot purporting to show Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu apologising to Indians for his ministers' recent remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going viral online.

What's the backdrop?: Tension is brewing between India and Maldives after a minister from Maldives insulted Prime Minister Narendra Modi online.

• Various trends have come out of this row, which promote Lakshadweep and hinder Maldives tourism.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

What's the truth?: We found out that this post is fake.

• Muizzu did not make any such statement on his verified X (formerly Twitter) account.

How did we find out the truth?: We checked Muizzu's official X account and did not find any such post.

• We also checked the 'replies' section on this account and did not find anything that matched the post from the viral screenshot.

• His last post was from 5 January and is unrelated to India. The viral screenshot carries 7 January as the date.

• Next, we checked the archives of this account from 7 January on Wayback Machine and found no such tweet.

• We confirmed via Social Blade, a social media analytics website, that Muizzu has not deleted any posts from 26 December 2023 to 8 January 2024.

Muizzu has not deleted any posts recently.

(Source: Social Blade/Screenshot)

Official statement by Maldives & more: Amidst the ongoing row, the Government of Maldives released an official statement on their official website on 7 January.

• It stated that these "derogatory remarks" passed by ministers of Maldives are "personal and do not represent the views of the Government of Maldives."

• The Maldivian government has suspended three Deputy Ministers who shared these controversial statements.

• The three suspended ministers are Malsha Shareef, Mariyam Shiuna and Abdulla Mahzoom Majid.

• The trio made their remarks in response to Mr Modi's post on X which promoted Lakshadweep tourism.

We have reached out the Maldivian President's office and the story will be updated once we receive a response.

Conclusion: A fake screenshot of Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu apologising to Indians on behalf of his ministers is being shared as real.

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