ATLAS

VariantOMEGA-11-3-1Sheet 1 of 6 of the dossier Antarctic Treaty

The ban on going: "no one may travel there"

The most widespread form of the thesis: the Treaty would forbid ordinary people, ships and aircraft from reaching Antarctica.

Summary

This sheet gathers the most common form of the thesis: the Antarctic Treaty would forbid ordinary people from travelling to Antarctica, and the prohibition would be hidden behind the language of peace and science. Short videos on TikTok and Instagram repeated the idea in 2023. One says the Treaty "won't allow us to go" and cites "Article 6". Another asks whether going there is illegal because of what supposedly lies hidden on the continent. A third claims that no human may travel there at all, and a fourth presents a clip of a military interception as proof that aircraft are shot down over the continent. Most of these posts borrow the imagery of the flat-Earth "ice wall", and several come with a supposedly leaked image of a city said to lie beyond it. Fact-checkers traced the interception clip to a 2017 morning-show segment filmed over the United States, not Antarctica. Article VI of the Treaty only says where the Treaty applies, south of 60° South latitude, and leaves the rights of states over the high seas intact. According to PolitiFact, tour operators expected more than a hundred thousand visitors in the summer of 2023, and research stations are staffed by rotating scientists. Nothing in the Treaty text bans travel or creates a no-fly zone.

What the thesis says

The sources show where these claims circulate, not that they are true.

  1. Thesis

    A TikTok video shown in April 2023 says the Antarctic Treaty "won't allow us to go": boats and ships would be stopped and escorted away, and "Treaty Article 6" is cited as the proof.

  2. Thesis

    The same post says the US military would shoot down any aircraft trying to fly over Antarctica, ultimately enforcing a no-fly zone; its proof is a short military-interception clip.

  3. Thesis

    An Instagram video from May 2023 asks whether "it's illegal to go to the Antarctica" because of reasons it lists, a hidden world of super-beings, pyramids and a tropical rainforest.

  4. Thesis

    An Instagram post of July 2023 claims that "no human is allowed to travel to Antarctica" and shows an image presented as "leaked footage" of a town beyond the ice wall.

Verified facts

  1. Verified fact

    The interception clip comes from a 2017 television segment filmed over the United States, not Antarctica, and Lead Stories finds that nothing in the Treaty prevents people from flying to or over the continent.

  2. Verified fact

    Article VI, the one the TikTok cites, only says that the Treaty applies to the area south of 60° South latitude, ice shelves included, and leaves states' rights over the high seas untouched; it bans no one from anything.

    • The Antarctic Treaty (full text, 1959), Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty, 1 December 1959
      The provisions of the present Treaty shall apply to the area south of 60º South Latitude, including all ice shelves, but nothing in the present Treaty shall prejudice or in any way affect the rights, or the exercise of the rights, of any State under international law with regard to the high seas within that area.
  3. Verified fact

    In mid-2023 PolitiFact reported that tour operators expected more than 100,000 tourists that summer, and rated the claim that no human may travel there "Pants on Fire".

  4. Verified fact

    Antarctica has no native population, but it does have permanent research stations where scientists live on a rotating basis, and it has become a tourist destination served by cruise lines.