Tom Hanks, a well-known actor, and his wife Rita Wilson are now recognized as Greek citizens. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the prime minister of Greece, announced it on his Instagram account on July 26.

However, a QAnon hoax spreading on social media claims Tom Hanks acquired Greek citizenship because the country recognizes pedophilia as a disability.

“While everyone was distracted by coronavirus Tom Hanks became a citizen of Greece … a place that recognizes pedophilia as a disability,”  stated a Facebook post that day that received more than 2,300 shares. The post included a side eye emoji. However, He did not address the second allegation of pedophilia. That Facebook user, Gigi Kundalini, told USA TODAY that she learned about the Greek citizenship news via a BBC report.

Digital editing was used to alter a snapshot of what seemed to be a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) website with the headline: “Tom Hanks Arrested on 135 Counts of Child P-rn Possession.” Pictures of the actor on vacation in Greece this month reveal he is not in detention, and the BBC acknowledged it did not print the story.

The absence of any news coverage regarding Hanks’ arrest proves it to be nothing more than an untrue and nasty rumor since it would have been obvious if a person as worldwide famous as Hanks had been detained, particularly on such a horrific accusation.

In an attempt to battle fake news and disinformation on its News Feed, Facebook flagged the post.

The report has been deemed fake by the Anti-Fake News War Room (AFWA) of India Today. Hanks was not detained in Australia.

Hanks is one of several famous people who have been the victim of weird conspiracy theories concerning their alleged participation in “elite pedophile sex trafficking rings,” along with Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres.

These allegations have also been deemed baseless by USA TODAY.

By email, a BBC representative confirmed to Reuters that “BBC News did not post this story.”

The actor revealed on Twitter on March 11 that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had both tested positive for COVID-19. He promised that they would adhere to the instructions of health professionals.

“We Hanks’ will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires,” he staed. “Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no?”

The four photographs in the viral collage include one of Hanks with a green bandana concealing his face, one of the actor standing next to his vehicle, and two that are close-ups of the bottom of his pants. His right ankle is surrounded by red circles.

The collage is captioned, “Look who has a new ankle bracelet! Tom Hanks. Some of you don’t know it but Mr Hanks was arrested in Australia for paedophilia. He went on national TV to say he had COVID-19 and he was quarantine himself. Not true. He was in custody for a time then house arrest is n his hotel. Now, he’s a flight risk.”

It is absurd that Australian law enforcement would detain Hanks for many weeks after arresting him on a severe offence, classify him as a “flight risk,” and then release him with just a monitoring bracelet.

The Hanks images from the Facebook post were released in May 2020 by The Daily Mail. Hanks is in Los Angeles, not Australia, according to the captions of the pictures.

One post reads, “Despite already having beaten COVID-19, Tom Hanks wasn’t willing to take any chance on Wednesday, with the Forrest Gump star covering his face with a green bandana when he ventured out in Los Angeles.”

In several countries, Paedophiles and other people under surveillance are often required to wear GPS ankle bands so that their whereabouts may be monitored. We discovered a story about this on “Daily Mail Australia.” Hanks, though, is not one of them.

Pedophilia, though, is not regarded as a disability under Greek law.

According to a Snopes.com fact-check, a request to add behavioral illnesses such excessive gambling, pyromania, pedophilia, and fetishists on the list of impairments was made in Greece in 2012. According to Business Insider and the BBC, the categories were not designed to have an impact on disability payments but rather were intended to facilitate better medical evaluations.

The Greece National Confederation of Disabled People expressed outrage at the proposal in a press release, claiming that the removal of terms like pedophilia, pyromania, voyeurism, ostentation, and sadomachism from the new Disability Identification Table followed a significant upheaval in Greek society.

The plan was short-lived due to the outcry, and pedophilia was removed off the list a few months later, according to Snopes.