Did ABC News host David Muir advertise on air a diabetes cure discovered by TV personality and physician Dr. Mehmet Oz? No, that's not true: A clip containing images of both Muir and Oz used manipulated sound to mislead audiences. The video didn't even name the "cure" described as "a revolution in diabetes treatment."
The claim appeared in a video posted on Facebook (archived here) on November 22, 2022. A man who looked like ABC News TV host David Muir began:
The best diabetes specialist emigrated to the USA. He treated the richest people of the East. He brought with him a formula that can stop diabetes and restore the body completely.
A banner at the bottom of the frame continued:
A REVOLUTION IN DIABETES TREATMENT IN AMERICA! OF THE EAST!
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of the writing of this fact check:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri Dec 29 17:03:40 2023 UTC)
Another man who looked like surgeon and television personality Mehmet Cengiz Oz (archived here), more commonly known as Dr. Oz, appeared at the 00:09 mark:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri Dec 29 19:49:18 2023 UTC)
In the video on Facebook, the audio that plays out of sync with footage of Dr. Oz says:
It's just amazing. When I saw how effective this product is, I was delighted. Thanks to a formula of natural ingredients. It normalizes blood sugar on the second day of use, and completely restores metabolism in just one week. Just listen to the stories of people who have already tried it.
The real Dr. Oz is not a "diabetes specialist," which requires expertise in endocrinology, and did not emigrate to the United States.
Dr. Oz was born in Ohio (archived here) and is a heart surgeon, as his website (archived here) makes plain.
The video showed several people apparently describing how their health got better with this supposed diabetes cure, but their words didn't attribute such improvements to anything specific. Other than the audio for "Dr. Oz" mentioning "a formula of natural ingredients," the video never said what the supposed cure was.
Yet the video's audio wrapped up the segment by encouraging people to buy the unknown substance:
The remedy has already caused a stir in all pharmacies. It was sold out in minutes. Now there is an opportunity to order online. More details are at the link below.
The link below the video, however, led to an article about potassium (archived here). It did not even contain the word "diabetes":
(Source: Naturallivingzozh.com screenshot taken on Fri Dec 29 17:58:58 2023 UTC)
The video on Facebook containing the ABC logo implied that it was a World News Tonight segment hosted by David Muir. But the clip contained several signs raising questions about its authenticity. For one, TV banners describing a segment's topic hardly ever contain exclamation marks in news programs.
Another sign suggesting that the report was fake was the sound: Throughout the entire clip, the audio was out of sync with the speakers' mouths. That indicated that the sound was added to the footage later.
A Google search for the terms "David Muir," "Dr. Oz," "diabetes" and "cure" (archived here) didn't produce any relevant results.
A search for the words "David Muir" and "Dr. Oz" on the ABC website (archived here) showed two matches, but both of them discussed Dr. Oz's 2022 unsuccessful U.S. Senate run in Pennsylvania (archived here), not a miraculous diabetes cure.
ABC World News Tonight is not known for its anchors spending valuable air time on advertising obscure products. In September 2023, the program and its host received the 40th Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism (archived here.)
Lead Stories contacted ABC News for additional comments. If we receive a response, this article will be updated as appropriate.
The account that posted the video in question on Facebook was not affiliated with any credible news organizations. It published diabetes-related content but described itself as "software" and promoted apps:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Fri Dec 29 18:28:20 2023 UTC)
Lead Stories previously debunked similar claims that reused faces of TV personalities paired with a doctored sound to promote speculations about diabetes. One of those posts showed Laura Ingraham; another one falsely attributed diabetes-related statements to CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Dr. Oz.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on health-related topics can be found here.
