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Fact check

Is it true: Kony 2012: The Invisible Children Campaign?

Partially True75% confidence

Partly — it's more complicated than the claim suggests.

The LRA's atrocities and Kony's 2005 ICC arrest warrant are extensively documented by the UN and human-rights organisations. The Kony 2012 video's geographic framing was outdated (Kony had left Uganda by 2006), its spending breakdown drew legitimate scrutiny (approx. 37% to direct programme services per 2011 annual report), and its "white savior" framing was widely criticised by African journalists and scholars. The underlying cause was real; the campaign's treatment of it was substantially flawed in several documented respects.

The claim

In March 2012, the NGO Invisible Children released a 29-minute documentary calling for the arrest of Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony. The video reached 100 million views in six days — the fa

Key evidence

ICC arrest warrant for Kony issued July 2005

Outdated geographic framing: Kony had left Uganda by 2006

Read the full evidence file

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