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No, this girl doesn’t get a dollar for a kidney transplant every time someone shares a Facebook post
Since an image of a little girl was published on Facebook on June 17, 2019, announcing that every time someone shared the post she would get a dollar for a kidney transplant, she has seemingly pocketed quite a bit of cash.
More than $87,000 as of Jan. 17, 2020, as thousands of Facebook users shared the post.
But this post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
That’s because it’s a hoax. And it’s been misleading people since at least 2018.
Featured Fact-check
The girl’s photo appeared in October 2017 on the Brazilian website Click Paraná. Translated to English, the post is titled: "Aninha is very much in need of your help." It goes on to say that the girl, Aninha, was diagnosed with leukemia and undergoing chemotherapy in Curitiba, the capital of the Brazilian state Paraná. It asks people to donate blood at a hospital there to help her. It doesn’t ask for money.
This Facebook post isn’t the first to claim that sharing a photo of an ailing child will result in a cash flow. In December, we rated Pants on Fire a claim that Facebook would donate a dollar every time someone shared a photograph of a sick boy.
This Facebook post gets the same rating. Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
Facebook post, Jan. 17, 2020
Snopes, Is $1 donated for a girl’s kidney transplant every time her photo is shared on social media?, Sept. 4, 2018
Click Paraná, Aninha is very much in need of your help, Oct. 10, 2017
PolitiFact, Facebook doesn’t donate money based on the number of shares a post gets, Dec. 5, 2019
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More by Ciara O'Rourke
No, this girl doesn’t get a dollar for a kidney transplant every time someone shares a Facebook post
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