Is Shahzada Dawood, one of five people who went missing on June 18, 2023, when the submersible Titan vanished on its way to the Titanic wreckage, the vice chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF)? No, that's not true: The Pakistani businessman is many things but he's not in a leadership role at the WEF. However, Dawood is the vice chairman of the Engro Corporation. He's also the director of the Dawood Hercules Corporation. In addition, he is a trustee on the boards of the Engro Foundation, The Dawood Foundation and the SETI Institute. Dawood is also a member of the global advisory board for King Charles' charity The Prince's Trust.
The claim appeared in a post and video on Instagram (archived here) published on June 21, 2023, under the title "well we'll well would you look at that." The description for the post says:
very intriguing 💯
#worldeconomicforum #klausschwab #oceangate #titanic #conspiracy
This is what the post looked like on Instagram at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Thu Jun 22 15:15:22 2023 UTC)
The video
The 56-second video is narrated by a smirking unidentified man, who appears to make light of the then-unknown fates of the five people aboard the craft. He says:
So, we've all been hearing about this submersible, right, and the four [sic] passengers or the tourists that are trapped on there? The final countdown of what, 20 hours left of oxygen, if not less?
What is the coincidence that the father and the son that are trapped on this contraption right here in this tin can are part of a organization that us Americans and Canadians all despise? What is the coincidence of this? Let me show you.
Well, well, well, he is part of the World Economic Forum. He's also the vice chairman of World Economic Forum. What is the coincidence of him being stranded at sea to see the Titanic?
About 43 seconds into the video, he points to the picture and says Dawood is part of the WEF:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Thu Jun 22 16:41:34 2023 UTC)
In the video, the narrator obscures key sections of the page from the WEF website that would have shown that Dawood is not the vice chairman of the organization. A screenshot of the page can be seen below:
(Source: World Economic Forum screenshot taken on Thu Jun 22 17:38:39 2023 UTC)
Additionally, Dawood also appears nowhere on the WEF's "Leadership and Governance" page, which lists its leadership, board of trustees, managing board and executive committee. To be fair, Dawood has been active and influential in the WEF, just not in a leadership capacity. In a search of the organization's website, his name comes up multiple times as a participant in WEF meetings and events.
World Economic Forum
The WEF is a popular target in conspiracy circles. The international organization focuses on public-private cooperation and engages in discussions about global economic, social and technological issues The WEF and its founder Klaus Schwab are said to be behind a purported plot for a unified world government. Both have been the focal point for dozens of claims debunked by Lead Stories. Schwab hosts the WEF annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where leaders of business, philanthropy and politics gather.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims related to the World Economic Forum can be found here.
