Fact-checked: Schoolboy fakes debate competition achievement

A Bangladeshi school student from Dinajpur recently became a sensation overnight, making headlines for his "extraordinary performance" in a "debate tournament organised by the White House".

Many mainstream media carried the story, thinking this boy really achieved something for the country.

The media outlets, including this newspaper, reported that the 17-year-old, who is also physically challenged, became the top debater out of 534 participants from different countries, and won 144 consecutive debates, breaking all records of the US government's parliamentary debate tournament.

However, these claims have been found to be false. 

"Rumour Scanner", a fact-checking platform, found that the story was cooked up. 

This newspaper also stands corrected after examining what the boy provided as evidence to support his claims.  

The press releases he produced bore no logo of the White House or any signature. 

The photo attached to the press release, claiming to be a moment of the debate competition, also came out to be fake, when it was checked through reverse image search.

The boy also claimed that his "success as the best debater" was mentioned in the official site of the White House. For this, he provided an address of a website built using WordPress software.

When this newspaper questioned the whole process, the boy sent a copy of what he claimed was an email from Jeff Zients, the White House chief of staff, vouching for him.

Whitehousegov2023@gmail.com, the sender's address in the so-called correspondence, was also found to be fake and it can be opened using Google's free Gmail service.

Talking to The Daily Star over phone, the tenth grader said, "I got the link of the debate tournament on Facebook and completed the registration. The debate was held through Google Meet".

But he could not provide any photo or video clip of the tournament.

He also said, "I did not have to pay any fees for the competition. So I am not aware if it was any fraudulence or not." 

The Daily Star is withholding the boy's name or address as he is a minor. 

Contacted, Mostafizur Rahman Bakul, grandfather of this boy, said, "If these allegations are true, my grandson is a victim of fraud."

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare of Rangpur yesterday presented the boy with a crest, honouring him. 

Talking to this newspaper, Monimun Aktar, assistant director of the department in Rangpur, said, "We honoured him on the occasion of World Autism Awareness Day. But we were not aware of those allegations."

Contacted over the matter, acting US embassy spokesperson Bryan Schiller told The Daily Star, "I would refer you to the White House and the White House website for definitive information about any such programme. I have seen two announcements about this purported programme, however, that do not appear authentic. This is for two reasons. First, there is no White House logo. Second, they are '.com' addresses, and the White House uses a '.gov' address: www.whitehouse.gov."