Fact Check: Mu Sochua Holding Banner Edited
Former opposition leader Sam Rainsy's $5 per watch campaign has become a topic of debate among users on social media. A photo showing a Cambodian politician and rights activist, Mu Sochua, holding a banner saying "How Sam Rainsy kept insulting the King is to distract the followers" was posted by a Cambodian user on Facebook recently. This post was reacted with mixed comments and shared by Khmer-speaking social media users. However, after reviewing an original photo on her official Facebook page, it proves that the claim above was altered.
This is about our investigation of this photo.
Social Media Claim
On July 7, 2021, one of the Facebook users posted a photo into a Facebook group called “Television revealing dictators” which shows one of the opposition leaders, Mu Sochua, holding a banner sign claiming that Sam Rainsy attacking the monarch was merely a diversion. Mu Sochua is known as a deputy president of the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), which was dissolved by the Supreme Court in 2017.
Photo along with this post has been shared several times with mixed reactions and expressions from Facebook users speaking Khmer. An image from a Facebook user's post shows a picture of Mu Sochua with the caption translated in English as “Sam Rainsy continuing to attack the King, Sam Rainsy is turning the story so that the people can forget about Sam Rainsy got money”.
Fact Check
Fact Crescendo Cambodia had started to check and verify this photo directly by running a Google Reverse Image search, which brought us to the sources containing the following photos.
This exact photo was found and posted on July 06, 2021 by Mu Sochua on her official Facebook page. This photo does not show she is holding a banner claiming about Sam Rainsy at all. In fact, she is holding and asking the government to free the environmental activists who have been arrested recently.
An image captured from Mu Sochua's official Facebook page with the caption in Khmer and translated in English as “I love the environment. Free environmental activists #FreeEnvironmentalActivists”.
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You may find the details of this fact-check in Khmer language here as well.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo Cambodia has found that the photo posted and claimed by the above user was altered. This photo had been edited before it was posted on social media. The original photo of a Cambodian politician, Mu Sochua, actually asking to release and free the environmental activists.
