Is the person in this video a 163-year-old Black man who is the oldest man in the world? No, that's not true: The man seen in this video is a 109-year-old monk from Thailand. He gained attention when his granddaughter posted video of him on her TikTok account.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) on February 19, 2022. The caption reads:
The oldest man in the world is 163 years old and he is black...
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
A different TikTok account claimed the same video footage is of a 399-year-old woman.
A Thai media website, Khaosod Online, reported that the person in the video is a 109-year-old Thai monk named Luang Ta. According to a Google translation of this article, the creator of the TikTok is the man's granddaughter, who has been taking care of him since he had "an accident in the bathroom."
This video on the account, translated by Lead Stories' Thai team, claims that she is the granddaughter of Ta.
The text reads:
Aui [as the TikTok creator identified herself] has been taking care of Luang Ta since he is blind. I did not just do it now and show up on social media just to take credits. I love him because I am his true granddaughter. Since I put him on social media, do I open the bank account for donation? No. I put him on social media because I would like to keep his story on behalf of a granddaughter who loves and respects him. Why do you think I put him in public to earn a living? You are having such negative thoughts. This is the reason people don't want to do good things. 🥺 I feel really sad.😭
Lead Stories contacted Guinness World Records for information about who is the oldest living man. A representative from Guinness told us that Juan Vicente Mora of Venezuela currently holds the Guinness World Records title for the oldest living man at 112 years old.
