'Genital theft' accusations: How social media fuelled rumours that turned deadly - BBC News

More than 80 people have been killed in the mob violence, the BBC finds after gathering data from six African nations.

Image source, Alfred Lasteck / BBCImage caption, Boniface Mgala and a friend were pulled out of a restaurant and attacked by a mob that accused them of stealing a man's genitals

More than 80 people were killed between October 2025 and July this year following false accusations about what is termed "genital theft", the BBC Global Disinformation Unit has found after gathering data from police forces across six African countries.

The killings are linked to rumours that a simple tap on the shoulder can cause a man's genitals to shrink or disappear. They are being fuelled by widespread misinformation on social media.

"They were shouting that we had stolen someone's genitals and we didn't have any way to escape because there was a huge crowd," Tanzanian mechanic Boniface Mgala told the BBC about his ordeal in April when he was badly beaten by those convinced he was a genital thief.

His experience was similar to those in videos seen by the BBC: men claim that their genital organs - penis and testicles - have vanished or shrivelled after coming into contact with strangers and a mob then demands that alleged perpetrators return what they have supposedly stolen.