Fact Check: BBC Report on Tom Hanks' Arrest on Child Pornography Charges Is Fake
Claim:
The BBC website once displayed a headline reading, "Tom Hanks arrested on 135 counts of child porn possession."
Rating:
For several years, a rumor circulating online has claimed that actor Tom Hanks was arrested on charges of possessing child pornography, with the headline of an purported BBC article about the arrest reading: "Tom Hanks arrested on 135 counts of child porn possession."
One popular TikTok post (archived) from December 2024 amassed more than 1.2 million views, 28,000 likes and 10,400 shares, with the caption: "NEWS OF TOM HANKS ARRESTED WAS ON THE BBC WEBSITE FOR A FEW MINUTES BEFORE BEING REMOVED!" An X post with a screenshot of that video also spread widely, reaching more than 1 million views, 8,000 likes and 3,100 reposts.
(X user @Joanne60183156)
The rumor spread on X in December 2024. Additionally, Google reverse image search results showed users shared the image in 2021 and 2022 on various social media platforms.
In short, because the image with the alleged headline was digitally created and BBC never published such a headline, we rate the claim as fake. We previously debunked this rumor in May 2023. The BBC Press Office confirmed via email that the headline is fake, adding that "it was covered and fact checked by Reuters in August 2021 and clarified by us a year ago."
We have also contacted Tom Hanks' legal representative for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
Digitally Altered Photo
No reputable media outlets reported on the alleged arrest of Tom Hanks, and there is no evidence to support the claim that the BBC ever published such a headline.
As Reuters found in 2021, the fabricated screenshot appeared to have been created by digitally manipulating an authentic BBC page that shares several identical elements with the altered screenshot.
For instance, the three bullet points beneath the headline (see image below) about Hanks seemed to pertain to vaccine-related topics, reading:
How can I get my second jab sooner?
What are the lockdown rules?
Your Covid questions answered
(Wayback Machine, TikTok user @theunkownxxxx)
Moreover, in 2021, BBC confirmed to Reuters and Lead Stories it did not publish such a headline.
Do It Yourself
It's relatively easy to alter the text on a webpage using the "Inspect" or "Inspect Element" option available in most web browsers. By right-clicking on a section of the webpage and selecting "Inspect," users can access the underlying HTML and CSS code. From there, they can edit the text or other elements directly in the browser's developer tools. These changes, however, are temporary and visible only on the user's device — they do not affect the actual content of the website or its publicly available version.
Below is an example we created using the "Inspect" option on the BBC website on Jan. 16, 2025:
(bbc.com)
In July 2020, we debunked false rumors that Hanks was arrested for "pedophilia" in Australia and fitted with an ankle bracelet to monitor his movements. In November 2024, we looked at claims that Hanks said he was withdrawing his Oscar nominations and leaving the United States.
Sources:
Check, Reuters Fact. "Fact Check: The BBC Did Not Publish False Story on Tom Hanks Arrest." Reuters, 9 Aug. 2021. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/article/fact-check/the-bbc-did-not-publish-false-story-on-tom-hanks-arrest-idUSL1N2PG20A/.
Esposito, Joey. "Tom Hanks Withdrawing Oscar Nominations and Leaving US?" Snopes, 30 Nov. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/tom-hanks-oscars-us/.
Fact Check: BBC News Did NOT Post Headline About Tom Hanks Being Arrested For Child Pornography Charges | Lead Stories. 24 June 2021, https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2021/06/fact-check-bbc-news-did-not-post-headline-about-tom-hanks-being-arrested-for-child-pornography-charges.html.
Home - BBC News. 18 June 2021, https://web.archive.org/web/20210618150222/https://www.bbc.com/news.
How to Use Inspect Element in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox | Zapier. https://zapier.com/blog/inspect-element-tutorial/. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.
Jayshi, Damakant. "Did BBC Report Tom Hanks Was Arrested for 'Child Porn Possession'?" Snopes, 10 May 2023, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/bbc-tom-hanks-arrested-child-porn-hoax/.
