logo
Local media report taken out of context in misleading posts about crude palm oil tax

Local media report taken out of context in misleading posts about crude palm oil tax

AFP21-04-2025

The screenshot of a Facebook post by Malay-language newspaper Utusan Malaysia was shared on X on March 23, with the caption "The new Malaysia gets gifts everyday".
The Utusan Malaysia post reads: "Introduction of special tax on crude palm oil."
The X post includes a link to the newspaper's online report (archived link).
Image
Screenshot of the false X post, captured on April 17, 2025
Similar posts about a purported new tax were also shared elsewhere on Facebook.
The claim surfaced as Malaysia experienced a shortage of bottled cooking oil, which authorities attributed to an increase in global crude palm oil prices and the government's price ceiling policy that made it difficult for manufacturers to cover operational costs (archived link).
However, Malaysia has no plans to tax local crude palm oil producers to tackle the shortage -- the posts have taken the Utusan Malaysia Facebook post out of context (archived link).
No plans for new levies
The original post includes a link to the report, published on March 23, which credits the proposal to the Malaysia National Consumer Foundation (YPNM), a consumer protection NGO (archived link).
"The issue of a shortage of cooking oil supply in the market that continues to plague the people can be tackled through the implementation of a special tax of 100 Malaysian ringgit ($23) for every metric ton of crude palm oil (CPO) to all local producers," reads the report.
"The President of the Malaysia National Consumer Foundation (YPNM), Datuk Dr Mohd Firdaus Abdullah, said Malaysia produces about 20 million metric tonnes of [palm] oil each year and if a 100 ringgit tax is imposed on each metric tonne, the government can earn two billion ringgit a year."
It does not include any responses from Malaysian authorities about the proposal.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance told AFP on April 16 that the government does not have plans to introduce new taxes in the future.
The ministry made a similar announcement in December 2024, stating it would focus on implementing tax measures announced in the 2025 budget (archived link). That statement remains valid, the spokesperson said.
Essential food items were exempted from sales taxes announced in the budget, though the government placed a tax on sugar to combat diabetes in the country (archived link).
As of April 21, 2025, there are no credible reports that the Malaysian government plans to impose taxes on crude palm oil.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Posts falsely claim Namibia has announced ban on US gas and oil exploration
Posts falsely claim Namibia has announced ban on US gas and oil exploration

AFP

timean hour ago

  • AFP

Posts falsely claim Namibia has announced ban on US gas and oil exploration

'Namibia cancelled contract with US from Mining their OIL & GAS,' reads an X post published on May 30, 2025. With more than 16,000 likes, the post adds: 'They ended the Oil & Gas contract with the US and told the US Government to immediately stop all Mining Operations in Namibia as Namibia ventures into State-owned mining operations.' Image Screenshot of the false X post, published on May 28, 2025 The post includes side-by-side photos of Namibia's President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and US President Donald Trump. Similar posts were shared thousands of times more on X and other platforms, including Facebook, TikTok and blogs. Nandi-Ndaitwah, who was elected in March, placed the country's oil and gas industries under direct presidential control the day after her inauguration. They previously fell under the Ministry of Energy and Mines (archived here). However, the government has not announced the cancellation of any energy contracts with the United States. No announcements A keyword search for 'Namibia cancels oil and gas with the US' turned up more posts repeating the false claim, as well as articles debunking it (archived here). The posts began circulating at about the same time as claims debunked by AFP Fact Check alleging that Namibia had announced the deportation of 500 Americans. As reported by AFP in April, Nandi-Ndatiwah explained that the oil and gas sector had the potential to transform Namibia's economy within the next five years by securing energy supplies and creating jobs (archived here). 'Mining contributes 12 percent to our gross domestic product and over 50 percent of our foreign exchange earnings. Regrettably, this figure does not reflect the true potential of mining and our mineral resources,' she was quoted as saying. On May 30, 2025, her presidency responded to the viral posts by labelling them 'fake news' (archived here). Namibia's presidency reiterated this to AFP Fact Check on June 4, 2025. 'The Namibian government has not at any point cancelled any contracts with investors from the United States in the mining, oil and gas sectors,' said press secretary Alfredo Hengari. He added that 'it is not the policy of the government to cancel contracts that are binding'. A US State Department spokesperson told AFP Fact Check on June 11, 2025: 'The online claims that Namibia has cut off the United States from mining and gas are false.' Foreign investment Contrary to the claim, Namibia has become a global exploration hotspot with several international gas and oil companies actively exploring its coasts in recent years (archived here). At the start of 2025, American firm Chevron announced that it had not found commercially viable gas in Namibia's Orange Basin By April, however, the company confirmed it would continue exploration in the Walvis Basin in 2026 or 2027, where firms including TotalEnergies, Shell, and Galp have made discoveries. Similarly, British multinational Shell deemed its Namibia oil discoveries uncommercial due to high gas levels in January. However, France's TotalEnergies believes it can handle these geological challenges, but its investment decision hinges on maintaining production costs below $20 per barrel (archived here). Another American corporation, ExxonMobil, is investigating (here and here) the country's potential in the Namibe Basin (archived here and here). The state itself, through the National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR), holds a 10 percent stake in its exploration partnership with TotalEnergies (50.5 percent), QatarEnergy (30 percent) and Impact Oil and Gas (9.5 percent) (archived here). As a top uranium producer, Namibia also announced in April 2025 that it will launch talks this year on its first nuclear energy plant, seeking to exploit its rich natural wealth to transform its economy (archived here).

AI-generated video of overflowing river falsely linked to Myanmar floods
AI-generated video of overflowing river falsely linked to Myanmar floods

AFP

time6 hours ago

  • AFP

AI-generated video of overflowing river falsely linked to Myanmar floods

"Myawaddy Road, Karen State. Several vehicles were damaged due to the landslide. June 1, 2025, 4:30 pm," reads a Burmese-language Facebook post on June 1, 2025. The video -- which has racked up more than 3.3 million views -- shows a river raging through a mountain pass highway with vehicles and people stranded along the muddied banks. The Myawaddy Road is a major trade route connecting Myanmar to neighbouring Thailand, which has often been closed off in the ongoing civil war -- sparked by a military coup that deposed Myanmar's civilian leadership in 2021 (archived links here and here). Image Screenshot of a false Facebook post taken on June 9, 2025 The video circulated after local media reported flooding in northern Myanmar along the Irrawaddy river basin following persistent heavy rainfall in early June (archived link). It also surfaced elsewhere on Facebook in Burmese posts as well as on TikTok. However, the video was fabricated using AI. A reverse image search on Google found an identical TikTok video published on May 28, 2025 with an "AI-generated" label (archived link). Checks of the same TikTok account showed it has repeatedly shared AI-generated videos of natural disasters (archived links here and here). Image Screenshot comparison of the false Facebook post (L) and the original TikTok video Joao Tourinho, who runs the TikTok account that posted the video, told AFP on June 10 that he created the video using the Hailuo AI tool, a text-to-video generation software. "I regret that people use content that is declared to be created by AI to spread false information," he said. "My YouTube channel and TikTok profile show that all of my creations are for those who enjoy apocalyptic entertainment created by AI." A close inspection of the clip also shows visual inconsistencies typical of AI-generated videos, such as oddly-shaped vehicles, cars merging into one another and a damaged white car suddenly appearing in the scene. Image Visual inconsistencies highlighted by AFP Although generative AI technology is improving rapidly, visual inconsistencies persist and are the best way to identify fabricated content. Other AFP debunks of AI-generated imagery can be found here.

Clip shows fatal shooting in Brazil, not India's Bihar state
Clip shows fatal shooting in Brazil, not India's Bihar state

AFP

time6 hours ago

  • AFP

Clip shows fatal shooting in Brazil, not India's Bihar state

"In the era of good governance in Bihar, Pawan Dusadh was shot dead in broad daylight. If this murder took place during the reign of Tejashwi Yadav, every media channel would have said 'lawlessness has returned to Bihar'," reads a Hindi-language Facebook post. The clip, shared with captions raising concerns over public safety in Bihar, shows two people on a motorcycle shooting another person before fleeing the scene. It has been watched over 112,000 times since it was uploaded on May 30. Image Screenshot of the false post, taken on June 11, 2025 Yadav will lead the state opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) party to challenge the coalition government -- mainly made up of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- in elections in Bihar expected later this year (archived link). Leader of India's largest opposition Congress party Rahul Gandhi has accused Kumar of turning Bihar into the country's "crime capital", while BJP leaders in the state said the RJD was responsible for the increasing crime rate (archived here and here). The footage has circulated with similar claims on Facebook and X. Comments from users suggest they believed the claim to be genuine. "Young people who speak up and raise their voices in Bihar are being murdered in this manner to silence them and spread fear, so that the entire society remains intimidated", reads a comment. Another user wrote, "The common people are not safe at all in Bihar." But the video shows an incident from Brazil, not Bihar. A reverse image search on Google using keyframes found the video was published in a report by Brazilian broadcaster TV Tambau on October 4, 2024 with a headline that reads, "Man is killed on the road while riding a motorcycle in Mandacaru" (archived link). Image Screenshot comparison of the false clip (left) and the video report from TV Tambau Further keyword searches show Brazilian website O Povo PB published a longer clip on October 8, 2024 showing the same scene from a different angle at the 3:09 mark (archived link). The website identified the victim as 22-year-old Gabriel Junior de Oliveira Medeiros, who was shot dead in the Mandacaru neighbourhood in Joao Pessoa. Images on Google Street View also show that the video was captured along the Avenida Dom Manoel Paiva in the city (archived link). Image Comparison of the false video (left) and images on Google Street View, with similarities highlighted by AFP AFP has debunked other false claims related to Yadav here and here.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store