Fighting against false news or “fake news” has become a daily task of living in the media. This 2022 was not oblivious to this misinformation, so many had to be denied. Here we present 5 news that did not turn out to be real and that marked the present year that is already ending,
There is very little left until the end of 2022, a year marked by wars, the World Cup in Qatar, technological and health advances, the beginning of what seems to be the end of the covid-19 pandemic, but also by fake news that quickly went viral on the internet.
From living corpses, to a ghost pilot, through the alleged responsibility of coronavirus vaccines for causing monkey smallpox, were some of the “fake news” del 2022.
1. No, there were no “living corpses” in Bucha
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the information war also broke out with disinformation campaigns, large-scale conspiracy theories -especially on social networks- and fake news online.
Las images of civilians killed in Buchaa town near kyiv, caused a worldwide stupor in early April, where hundreds of bodies littered the streets after Russian soldiers left the city in late March.
The Ukrainian side spoke of a “deliberate massacre” by Russian soldiers. And Russia responded with an outrageous accusation: Bucha’s videos were a “staged production and provocation.” On social networks it became viral that the corpses were just actors who even moved, as could supposedly be seen in a video.
But upon further evaluation of the video by DW and from the image of a supposed “living corpse” moving a hand, it was shown through better resolution that a drop of water on the windshield of the car, from which the streets of Bucha were filmed, would have caused that optical impression. .
A New York Times investigation also showed that satellite images from the US company Maxar showed bodies lying on Yablunska Street in Bucha from March 19, and in some cases even from March 11.
2. No, “the ghost of kyiv” is not a fighter pilot
Many Ukrainians sought solace in the news of the victories members of the Armed Forces of your country, there was a very popular one, but one of the false ones: the story about “the ghost of kyiv”, a fighter pilot who allegedly destroyed around 40 Russian planes and whose identity remained a secret.
Many users, including former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, shared videos and photos about “the ghost of kyiv.”
Very curious was a manipulated image of the mysterious Ukrainian pilot, who actually turned out to be an Argentine lawyer from Buenos Aires. Finally, in the Ukrainian Armed Forces they confirmed that a ghost pilot never existed, but that this character was a legend.
3. No, Europe has not returned to the Middle Ages due to the energy crisis
“It’s time to talk about bacteria, scabies, fleas and lice (…) because enlightened Europe seems to be going back to the Middle Ages, when people did not wash at all,” said presenter Dmitry Kiselev, at the end of April 2022 , on Russian state television.
The reason was the recommendation of the German Minister of Economics, Robert Habeck, to save energy in the bathroom as well, and of the head of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, not to take hot showers so often.
According to Kiselyov, because of hatred of Russia and Russian gas, Europe was ready to neglect hygiene, as it did in the Middle Ages. And of course, the lack of hygiene goes hand in hand with problems of parasites and bacteria.
But even eight months later, that grim prognosis has not been confirmed either in Germany or by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control across the EU. There is no increase in mite, lice or flea infections.
4. No, monkeypox is not a consequence of the COVID-19 vaccine
one of the fake news What went viral about the covid-19 vaccine is that it produced monkeypox, specifically that of AstraZeneca.
Word got around that it contains weakened chimpanzee adenovirus, as the carrier of the protein’s DNA. And this is false because monkeypox and monkey adenoviruses have nothing to do with each other.
Monkeypox gets its name solely from the fact that it was first detected in a colony of monkeys, but actually comes from rodents, the scientists tell DW Fact Check.
By the way, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently decided to change the name of the disease from monkeypox (in English “Monkeypox”) to Mpox to avoid stigmatizing those affected.
5. Yes, Qatar ‘bought’ fans for the 2022 World Cup
Shortly before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, various international media accused the host country of having “bought” the World Cup fans, covering flight, hotel and ticket costs. In return, fans should promote the World Cup on social media.
According to some sources, Qatar invited hundreds of football fans. The Supreme Committee (SC), responsible for organizing the World Cup, denied that fans were paid in exchange for “coordinated promotion of the World Cup.”
However, according to investigations, Qatar did indeed invite selected fans to the World Cup and pay them flights, hotels, match tickets and accommodation costs, under the “Qatar Fan Leader Network” programme. So it would not be part of the fake news 2022.
This was confirmed by some fans interviewed, however, Qatar presented at least a part of these fans with a kind of “Code of Conduct”, which committed them to “support” the World Cup by “liking and sharing” posts on social networks. In exchange, they would receive the aforementioned benefits, which is equivalent to a form of payment.
In response to the published reports, they explained in an email to the participants in the “Fan Leader” program that they would not be given pocket money for their trip to Qatar, according to an investigation by the German TV channel’s sports program. ARD.