Hoax

Czech online tabloids recycling long-debunked antigypsyist hoaxes alleging Roma get free transportation, washing machines

24.7.2017 7:11 An online hoax against Romani people in the Czech town of Most that is several years old and alleges that they are getting free public transport and that the town is paying for them to go to the spa or take taxis is once again spreading through the Czech-language Internet. Besides being currently shared on Czech-language social networks, the hoax was published by the news server Eportál on 18 July.  full story

Czech tabloid apologizes for fake news report claiming video from Chile was from Ostrava

24.7.2017 6:20 The Editor-in-Chief of the tabloid news server Expres.cz, Petr Konečný, apologized on 18 July for publishing an untrue news item about the theft of a television from a hospital waiting room. The tabloid alleged on 16 July that a video of such an incident in San Pedro de la Paz, Chile was from the Czech city of Ostrava.  full story

Czech tabloid fraudulently tells readers CCTV footage of theft in Chile was from Ostrava - antigypsyism is the response

18.7.2017 7:16 Czech online social networks are sharing video footage of a young man, accompanied by a woman with a pram and a small child, stealing a television set from the waiting room of a hospital. The video has been viewed more than one million times, and according to the accompanying comments, it is clear that the Czech Internet believes the people in the video are a family - and a Romani one.  full story

Czech Republic: Yet another hoax hits senior citizens' inboxes, police need complaints to take action

1.6.2017 9:26 Purveyors of disinformation in the Czech Republic disseminate alarming and deceptive "news" - basically hoaxes - not just through obscure online servers, but also through mass e-mails. One such e-mail is currently filling up the inboxes mainly of senior citizens  full story

Internet memes falsely allege celebration of terrorist attack in London

26.3.2017 13:38 A screenshot purported to be of a Facebook broadcast by the Arab television station Al-Jazeera is being shared through online social networks after Wednesday's terrorist attack in London, alleging that Muslim people have been celebrating it. "The Muslim world is laughing after the attack in London," several online social network users are sharing, alleging that the screenshot is proof that Al-Jazeera watchers are glad about the attack and posting "likes" and emoticons featuring hearts and laughter during the broadcast.  full story

Czech President alleges most immigrants are uneducated, but German statistics show otherwise

24.3.2017 6:45 According to Czech President Miloš Zeman, most of the two million immigrants who have arrived in the European Union recently have not even completed a basic education. He belives that will significantly complicate their inclusion into society.  full story

Czech disinformation outlet misinforms readers that a refugee camp "like Calais" is growing in Prague

11.3.2017 21:29 The dissemination of disinformation and fake news to manipulate Czech readers takes various forms. A fresh example from the Czech tabloid Parlamentní listy demonstrates that the images used in news reporting play a significant role in such efforts.  full story

Czech tabloid uses old video from French taxi drivers' protest, claims it is of current protests by immigrants

28.2.2017 7:32 The Czech tabloid news server ParlamentníListy.cz has used its Facebook profile to manipulate its readers once again. The server has published year-old video footage of protesters throwing tires at cars as they drive by, captioning the footage with the sentence "This is Paris".  full story

Slovak Regional Governor spreads rumors about attempted rape on a train, police refute them

23.2.2017 8:09 News server dennikn.sk reports that Marian Kotleba, Regional Governor of the Banská Bystrica Region and chair of a fascist party in Slovakia called the "People's Party Our Slovakia" (Ľudové strany Naše Slovensko - LSNS) announced at a press conference on Tuesday, 14 February that an attempt had been made the previous day to rape a 16-year-old girl on a train traveling across Slovak territory. Police and the railways have stated that his version of events is incorrect.  full story

Son of former Czech President disseminates photo online with misleading Islamophobic commentary

19.2.2017 19:51 Václav Klaus, Jr. published a photograph from Iran on his Facebook profile on 15 February that purported to show women in Iran having to sit on the floor while the men around them were seated on chairs, commenting on it as follows: "A picture is sometimes worth more than a thousand words. This is (now this weekend) the beginning of the Women's World Chess Championship in Tehran. This is about female journalists - I don't know whether Iranian or from abroad. This is a decent country, uncontrolled street violence does not happen here. They are not far from developing a nuclear weapon. Despite that, their idea that a woman is considered the kind of being that is closer to a dog - doesn't that give you mixed emotions?"  full story

Czech Republic: Non-Romani men fighting "about a girl" misreported by media as neo-Nazi brawl with Roma

17.2.2017 7:53 Online news server udalosti112.cz broadcast reporting including video footage on 12 February claiming that a street battle had erupted in the town of Litvínov, Czech Republic between neo-Nazis and Romani people, writing about a "battle of a group of skinheads with local Roma" that "employed local and state police and emergency medical responders". News server Romea.cz was then contacted by an eyewitness to the incident who said it was not a clash between right-wing extremists and Romani people, but an ordinary "pub brawl" among non-Romani locals involving a dispute "about a girl".  full story

HOAX: Video from Prague spreads through Facebook alleging "Islamic refugees" were caught trying to rape a girl

20.12.2016 23:57 On 14 December the administrators of a Canadian website called "Never Again Canada" posted video footage to their Facebook profile that originally came from the Czech Republic and has been viewed 900 000 times, shared 14 000 times, and received 5 000 reactions as of 20 December. The footage shows an argument about methamphetamine followed by an assault on a young woman in Prague.  full story

Facebook wants to combat online hoaxes through expert fact-checking

16.12.2016 21:50 The Facebook social networking site is designing many instruments for preventing the dissemination of fake news or hoaxes, according to company vice-president John Hegeman, who announced the decision in New York. Facebook users will have the option of flagging untrue news items more easily than they do now, and facts that are called into question will then be verified by teams of experts including the ABC News television station in the USA and the Associated Press wire service.  full story

Analysis: Czech media spread Islamophobic disinformation about court-ordered removal of Virgin Mary statue in France

16.12.2016 20:41 During the weekend of 4 December, the Czech News Agency published a news item saying that the French municipality of Publier, located on the intersection of the border with both Italy and Switzerland, must remove a statue of the Virgin Mary from public land on the basis of a decision by an administrative court tribunal in Grenoble. What is the reason for this decision?  full story

Online HOAX alleges Swedish Christmas lights cancelled because of Muslim demand

16.12.2016 19:01 Now that Christmas is upon us, the Internet is once again full of hoaxes alleging that Sweden has banned Christmas lights at the request of Muslims. The online hoaxes are spreading around Europe and the USA, alleging that the report is proof of a Muslim assault on "our" Christian traditions and values.  full story

Russian news servers spread hoax that "Western media" are faking reports of civilians rescuing children in Aleppo

16.12.2016 17:28 Last month the Facebook social networking site saw a massive dissemination of a collage of photographs from Aleppo, Syria that allegedly "proved" that "Western media" reports about the situation in Aleppo were being manipulated. Those sharing the photographs alleged they had been manipulated to show different Syrian men rescuing the same little girl in three different places.  full story

Fake news item spreads online alleging George Soros has died

16.12.2016 16:51 At the beginning of the week of 14 November a fake news item began to spread online alleging that George Soros has died, including in the Czech language. The news item was quickly refuted and labeled false and is just the latest in a chain of untrue, falsified news items about the deaths of famous figures.  full story

Commentary: A children's playground, common dialogue, and the media

25.9.2016 20:54 In mid-September the Lidové noviny daily paper opened up an important topic by publishing a sketch of an everyday experience at a children's playground in the Czech Republic. What followed was a passionate discussion about whether the article itself was inciting racism or whether it was analyzing the causes of racism, whether a person should "speak up" in certain situations or leave them in tears.  full story

Czech Republic: Anti-Romani politician spreads hoax that Roma are bilking the state - through lightbulbs

19.9.2016 20:16 Jiří Maria Sieber, a candidate for the Czech Senate from the Order of the Nation (Řád národa) political movement, has reported on his Facebook page that Romani people are allegedly leasing very expensive LED light bulbs from the RWE power utility for which the "welfare office" reimburses them. Allegedly the Romani ratepayers then immediately pawn the light bulbs in order to improve their financial situations.  full story

Commentary: Czech media publish manipulative news item about slaughtered sheep and an "evil Turk"

18.9.2016 13:41 Today we are reporting yet another case study on the topic of "journalists in Czech media who could easily be replaced by monkeys. Even untrained ones."  full story