A video of a person interacting with students and several people is being shared on the internet to claim that he is the founder and chairman of the social media platform TikTok.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)
Team WebQoof received a query about the viral claim our WhatsApp tipline as well. More archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.
Are these claims true?: No, the person in the video is being misidentified as the founder of TikTok.
He is actually a motivational speaker and a singer named Chen Zhou, who had lost both his legs at the age of 13.
Hints in the viral video: We noticed that one of the keyframes in the viral video carried some text in Chinese that loosely translated to "young singer" and "famous Chinese motivational speaker."
In the background, some texts in Chinese can be seen.
(Source: Viral Video/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
On searching further using the Chinese words on Google, we found an article published on Baidu Baike which carried images of the same person.
It identified the person as Chen Zhou, who is a famous motivational speaker and a singer.
The article identified the person as Chen Zhou.
(Source: Baidu Baike/Screenshot)
Who is Chen Zhou?: As per a report in South China Morning Post (SCMP), he was born to a poor family in a village in Shandong province.
Zhou, who is dubbed as "legless warrior", is 41-years-old and was raised by his grandfather.
He had lost his both legs in a train accident at the age of 13. Zhou became a singer when he was 18-years-old and staged concerts on the street.
Now a motivational speaker, Zhou has worked to raised awareness about disabilities. He is also an avid mountain climber.
The report was published on 3 June 2023.
(Source: SCMP/Screenshot)
Stock image website, Getty Images, carried an image of Zhou that showed him climbing Mount Lao.
The image is from 10 September 2016.
(Source: Getty Images/Screenshot)
Comparing keyframes from viral video to Zhou's image: Team WebQoof compared the image of Zhou to one of the keyframes of the viral video and found that both of them showed the same person.
Both visuals show the same person.
(Source: SCMP/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
Conclusion: It is clear that a video of a person interacting with students and with people is being shared with users misidentifying him as the founder and chairman of TikTok.
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