That's exactly what nobody needs: A supposed newspaper report is distributed via WhatsApp and Facebook that reports about 10,000 infected people in Göppingen.
The reports about Göppingen in summary:
A fake report says 10,000 people are infected. This report is distributed in the form of a screenshot. The city of Göppingen denies the content on Facebook.
This screenshot is a fake: The picture shows a fake report based on a newspaper report. This report is shown in the look of ZEIT online and is entitled “The situation has worsened significantly”.
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The text speaks of 10,000 infected people and claims that the virus has spread suddenly. In addition, there have reportedly already been 8 deaths.
The fake report calls for people in the area not to leave their homes or go to work. But everything that is written there is not true!
Trolling or targeted scaremongering?
Unfortunately, it is difficult to judge at this point whether this is trolling or whether contradictory fakes are intended to scare people.
The latter in particular would be an intentional strategy in which different information is deliberately spread. As we have already described in our article “ Panic and fear in the age of social media ”, in such cases it is not necessarily a matter of this false information being believed, but rather that it is in competition with serious reporting, which is ultimately also questioned becomes.
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The results are sentences like “You don’t know who to believe anymore” or “Everyone is lying somehow”. It is precisely in these moments that misleading false reports have achieved their goal. People are insecure, afraid and feel like they are in a helpless situation.
Göppingen denies!
On the city of Göppingen's Facebook page you can read:
Beware of fake news
We expressly point out that the reports about the coronavirus in the district currently being distributed via WhatsApp are fake news. It is not recommended to stay at home, nor have there been 8 deaths in Plochingen and Eislingen. There is no obligation to wear a face mask. Please remain level-headed and deal rationally with the risk of illness.
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )