Did the World Economic Forum suggest that governments decriminalize bestiality? No, that's not true: The claim came from a story that used a fake screenshot of a non-existent article. No credible source published reports confirming that the statement was made.
The claim originated from an article (archived here) published by News Punch on March 1, 2023, under the title:
WEF Says It's Time To Legalize Sex and Marriage With Animals To Promote Inclusion
It continued:
The World Economic Forum has ordered infiltrated world governments to take immediate steps towards a controversial new initiative that should have every right-thinking person up in arms
Here is what it looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: NewsPunch screenshot taken on Mon Mar 27 14:58:19 2023 UTC)
The article contained a tweet with a screenshot of a supposedly existing article allegedly published by an outlet with a logo and layout that looked similar to those of Vox:
(Source: NewsPunch screenshot taken on Mon Mar 27 14:57:26 2023 UTC)
However, according to Google, no article under such a title has been published as of this writing:
(Source: Google screenshot taken on Mon Mar 27 15:15:07 2023 UTC)
The World Economic Forum describes itself as "the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation", registered as a nonprofit. It is not a government or an international court with the authority to order a member country to enact its decision. Over years, it has been the target of multiple conspiracies debunked by Lead Stories.
A search on the WEF website produces no relevant returns containing an "order" "to legalize sex and marriage with animals" or any suggestion that such an idea was promoted by the organization or guest speakers invited to its events.
A Google search for the phrase "legalize sex and marriage with animals" returns either fact checks debunking the claim or non-credible variations of the claim.
No major English-language media organization reported the "news."
News Punch, originally started as Your News Wire, is one of the most prolific websites publishing fake stories. Its Facebook page, "The People's Voice," lost its verification checkmark.
Its website's Terms of Use page (archived here) contains a disclaimer suggesting that News Punch rejects the responsibility for the accuracy of its stories:
NEWSPUNCH, LLC AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, TIMELINESS, AND ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS CONTAINED ON THE SITE FOR ANY PURPOSE.
