No, Canada Didn’t Put Up Posters Asking Indians to Stop Defecating in the Open

The edited image, originally showing a poster in Ghana, is being used to target Indians.

An image of a hoarding, showing a man defecating on a beach, is being shared on social media.

• The hoarding carries text in English, reading, "Beaches are not toilets," and a line in Hindi, asking people not to defecate in the open.

• It also shows the logo for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and one reading 'Canada'.

The claim: The image is being shared to target Indians, claiming that the Canadian government had to put up posters across parks and beaches to remind them not to defecate in the open.

(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)

Is it true?: No, the image has been altered to include Hindi text and change the man's face.

• The original image shows an ad campaign against open defecation in Ghana.

How did we find out?: We ran a reverse image search on the image, which led us to a Reddit post which said that the poster showed an advertisement campaign against open defecation in Ghana.

• This image showed a different man and did not carry text in Hindi.

• We then ran another reverse image search on this unedited photo, which led us to stock image website Shutterstock.

• The image's caption mentioned that the photo was taken in May 2018 in Accra, Ghana.

About the campaign: A keyword search for this campaign showed us a 2018 news report by DW, which carried another photo from the ad campaign.

• It mentioned that open defecation was a widespread problem in Ghana, where most homes were built without toilet facilites.

• To address this sanitation and health crisis, the government had began putting up these billboards to discourage people from defecating in public places, as it was also impacting tourism in the nation.

• Supplementing this search with 'Canada' as a keyword, we found that the Canadian government had, along with UNICEF, funded this ad campaign across Ghana.

• The country's leaders had faced scrutiny over this funding, with people asking why Canada's development money was being spent to tell people "not to s–t on the beach" in Ghana, a 2018 report by City News read.

Conclusion: An edited image is being shared to falsely claim that the government of Canada put up posters in Hindi and English to tell Indians not to defecate in the open.

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