An Old News Headline Reshared Misleads Social Media Users

After a senior government officer called upon the U.S. delegations to reinstate the preferential system for Cambodian products, a picture of a headline written “Premier Urges Workers Not to Be Shocked After Garment Factories Closure Next Months” was uploaded on social media. The picture had been shared many times and commented on by Khmer-speaking social media users. However, running Google Reverse Image Search proves the news headline is missing context.

SOCIAL MEDIA CLAIM

A picture of captured headline written “Samdech Premier [Hun Sen] Urges Workers Not to Be Panic Following the Closure of Garment Factories Next Month” was circulated on social media.

The capture of news headline came with a caption saying the withdrawal of the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) and the Everything But Arms (EBA), both duty-free granted by European Union for products imported from Cambodia, would impact on jobs of workers in the garment sector.

The post of the headline capture got many shares, comments, and reactions from social media users speaking the Khmer language.

Below is the capture of the captured headline which was circulated on social media on Wednesday last week.

Facebook Post | Archived Link

The same capture of news headline was shared to social media groups leading to many shares last week. See the capture below.

Facebook Post | Archived Link

FACT CHECK

Fact Crescendo began debunking the claim above by running Google Reverse Image Search which led us to find the facts as below.

Running the Google Reverse Image Search led us to find out the news headline which was published on a local magazine website more than three years ago.

The full story of the news headline said Prime Minister Hun Sen told workers not to panic after some garment factories would be closed in March of that year.

PM Hun Sen’s comment came after some garment factories were forced to close their operation because of the disruption of material supply from China after the breakout of the pandemic in that year. See the full story here.

Popular Magazine | Archived Link

The premier’s appeal was also published by the pro-government media outlet Fresh News. Watch the full speech of PM Hun Sen speaking in the ground breaking of the National Road 2 and 22 on February 11, 2020.

The European Union decided to withdrew 20 percent of duty-free grants for products imported from Cambodia in February 2020. The move came after the 27-member community saw that democracy and rights respect had deteriorated for years.

However, the PM Hun Sen-led government has kept its stand far away from the U.S. and EU recommendations to reinstate the country’s democracy and civil space.

CONCLUSION

Fact Crescendo Cambodia found the post mentioned above is missing context. The headline is not the current situation. It is an old news headline published more than three years ago. Prime Minister Hun Sen did not appeal like that this year.