In May 2023, a video went viral on the Internet in which a woman allegedly eats a live earthworm directly from wet asphalt. It is reported that the heroine of the video is a nutrition specialist working with the World Economic Forum. We decided to find out if this video and its description are true.
If you believe numerous publications, then Dr. Hilda Etzevorm on her social networks decided “to clearly show what she is going to “feed” this very world.” About the video told, for example, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, describing what was happening like this: “In a short video posted on TikTok, Dr. Hilda Etzevorm, adviser to the World Economic Forum’s Feed the World program, walks along a small street after a summer rain. Suddenly she lets out an animal roar (the woman shouts: “Oooh, the first worm of this summer!” - Ed.), seeing a long earthworm in front of her, kneels down and licks it from the asphalt. After that she swallows it and barks like a dog.” The official publication of the Russian government indicated that “the author who posted the video called it a joke,” but the text did not express any doubt that the woman was an employee of the World Economic Forum.
A video with similar descriptions was shared by Telegram channels “The world of Mikhail Onufrienko"(329,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Uncle Slava"(194,000), Voblya (178,000), "Bullet"(177,000), "Evil proof️"(160,000), "Broadcast 18+"(159,000), "What happened?"(110,000), "Staff Correspondent"(100,000), "Tough of the day"(99,000), "Darwin Award"(90,000), "Petya the First"(88,000), Putin TG Team (79,000), "Truth of Russia"(69,000), "Batkovich"(25,000), "Summary" (19,000) and "Timofey BazhenoV Live"(18,000). Posts about how and what Etzevorm snacked on can also be found in Twitter (examples here, here And here), "VKontakte» (here, here And here), Facebook*(here, here And here), Instagram*, to "Peekaboo"and others entertaining or news websites.
“Verified” could not find evidence that the WEF has an adviser named Hilda Etzevorm - moreover, we did not find information on the Internet that a person with that name even exists. Fact checkers from Royal Melbourne University of Technology contacted to the WEF press service, where they were told that the organization does not have advisers with that name. “This is made up to discredit the important work that the World Economic Forum is doing on serious global challenges,” the representative of the organization added.
The video went viral on the RuNet on May 14, 2023, and the video became popular in the English-speaking segment of the Internet the day before. In the original, a woman called Hilda Eatzeworm - this surname is consonant with the phrases eat the worm (“eat a worm”) and eats a worm (“eats a worm”), that is, its Russian-language counterpart is Cherveedova. This indicates that the entire news could be a simple joke. But then who ate the invertebrate animal?
The frames of the viral video feature the TikTok logo, as well as the user’s username - @erinn_clarkk. At the time of writing this analysis, there is no such account on the platform, but in the Internet archive available several saved copies. According to description profile, the woman's name is Erin Clark - she is from Canada and shoots content marked 18+. “Verified” also found her Instagram account, where in the description it says: “The big [TikTok] account has been banned forever, subscribe to a new one - erinn.clarkk" At the same time, we found another profile on TikTok, most likely belonging to a blogger - @erinclark419. Instagram video of Clarke eating a worm posted back on April 23, 2021.
Unfortunately, not a single saved copy of the page with the deleted TikTok account of the Canadian woman shows the video we need with the worm, but we found re-uploads of it. Thus, the earliest found “Verified” publication containing a fragment of the video, was posted on April 15, 2021 in the account of millionaire blogger CelinaSpookyBoo - this version has received almost 8 million views.
In addition, "Verified" discovered version, which is a screen recording of a device playing Clarke's original video. The footage also included a description that stated that “no animals were harmed in the making of this video.” This phrase could have several meanings: for example, that the worm was already dead before filming, that Clarke ate a copy of the real worm, or that it could be another joke. “Verified” contacted the blogger for a comment, but did not receive a response at the time of publication of this analysis.
After that, on the saved page of Clarke’s deleted TikTok, we found an almost identical video, published April 16, 2021. The caption also stated that no harm was done to the animals and that the previous video was deleted. At the same time, in the new version of the video the following caption appeared: “No... I didn’t actually eat the worm.”
We can neither confirm nor deny that the video blogger really did not eat the worm, but we know for sure that eating various creatures and objects is one of the gags she often uses. For example, there is a review of Clarke’s work on the Internet, from which it follows that she had a whole series similar videos: in them she ate (or only pretended to eat) a moth, a ladybug, a dandelion and more. At the same time, she shouted a phrase similar to the words from the video with the worm, for example: “Oooh, the first moth of this summer.”
Determining who first posted a video with a caption about the WEF advisor is problematic, but the earliest mention of Hilda Etzevorm that Verified could find is was May 13, 2023 at 02:17 Moscow time on Twitter by a person named Mark Alan Pearce. According to his profile, Pierce often spreads conspiracy theories: for example, he hinted on US involvement in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, shared the opinion of the former head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin that the United States did not land on the Moon, denied global climate change, blaming the media for its popularization, as well as spoke against coronavirus vaccination.
Thus, Dr. Hilda Etzevorm, advisor to the WEF Feed the World program, does not exist, and the woman in the viral video is video blogger Erin Clark, who creates shocking content. The video itself is genuine, but it is not known for sure whether Clarke actually ate a live worm or whether it was a fake.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover photo: collage “Verified” / @erinn_clarkk
Not true
- Is it true that if you cut an earthworm in half, you will get two viable individuals?
- Is it true that the World Economic Forum called for allowing animal marriages?
- Is it true that the WEF ordered governments around the world to punish citizens for reading fake news on the Internet?
- Is it true that the World Economic Forum has proposed euthanizing a million domestic cats and dogs to combat climate change?
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