STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.

Never Said

Did the World Health Organization unveil a "global police force," purportedly to arrest citizens who post independent media online? No, that's not true: Lead Stories could not find any evidence of a representative from the Organization making such a claim. The latest draft of WHO's Pandemic Agreement does not mention a "global police force."

The claim appeared in an article published by The People's Voice on January 18, 2024, titled "WHO Unveils 'Global Police Force' To Arrest Citizens Who Post Independent Media Online" (archived here). It began:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced plans to rollout a global police force that will be responsible for punishing citizens who spread non-mainstream content on the Internet.

Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:

(Source: The People's Voice screenshot taken on Thu Feb 1 16:32:31 2024 UTC)

The People's Voice article claimed that World Health Organization (WHO) Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke about wanting to be "better prepared ... to understand disease X" in a "session" on the Pandemic Agreement. According to the article, the Pandemic Agreement "would grant the WHO unprecedented control over sovereign nations - allowing them to outlaw free speech and imprison citizens for sharing so-called 'misinformation' online."

WHO representative, David Epsteinn, emailed us on February 1, 2024 to say that this claim is "patently false:"

The World Health Organization leads and champions global efforts to achieve better health for all. By connecting countries, people and partners, we strive to give everyone, everywhere an equal chance at a safe and healthy life.

We have nothing to do with police forces or arrests. That claim is patently false.

Lead Stories fact-checked in January 2024 the claim that WHO ordered President Joe Biden to arrest Americans who shared "non-mainstream content" online. That claim also hinged on the idea that the Pandemic Agreement would punish people for sharing "non-mainstream content." Epsteinn told us in January that the "member states of WHO are drafting and negotiating an international agreement to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response ... For more details, see Intergovernmental Negotiating Body ..."

The "session" The People's Voice is referencing is a discussion world leaders had at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Ghebreyesus did not mention installing a "global police force" during this discussion. The full video of the January 17, 2024, session can be found here.

The latest draft of the WHO Pandemic Agreement (archived here) does not contain the words "global police force." Below is a screenshot of "global police force" being mentioned zero times in the agreement:

(Source: Apps.who.int screenshot taken on Thu Feb 1 18:46:09 2024 UTC)

Searching "Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus AND Global Police Force AND World Health Organization" (archived here) on Google News did not yield any credible results.

The People's Voice

The People's Voice has a lengthy record of publishing false stories in the past. It describes itself as a resource "comprised of various web pages operated by Fact Checked Limited," but it has nothing to do with fact-checking.

As of this writing, its website contained a liability disclaimer, saying:

FACT CHECKED LIMITED 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. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ALL SUCH INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS ARE PROVIDED 'AS IS' WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND.

Other Lead Stories articles on the WHO are here.