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Sweden's sex competition is a fiction! Why are news reports fooled?
In June 2023, a piece of fake news claiming that Sweden officially regarded sex as a sport and hosted Europe's first sex competition circulated on the Internet, quickly attracting reports and attention from many media. In fact, this news was completely false information and was later debunked by many authoritative organizations.
Sweden will host a sex competition in various categories including "oral sex", the report said, claiming that contestants from all over the world are gathering in Sweden.
Spread of Reports
As the news spread, many media outlets, such as Marca, Greek City News, Canadian Beacon Herald, South African IOL, Nigerian Pulse, German RTL, and Pakistani MMnews, published similar articles. Report. The reports mentioned that 20 contestants from different countries will compete in the competition, and the winner will be scored by judges and the audience.
A Spanish sports daily said contestants would demonstrate "representativeness of different countries" and "Kamasutra" skills.
Reaction on social media
The misleading news has attracted widespread attention on social media. Netizens expressed various opinions, some expressed doubts, while others were curious, causing the whole incident to spark heated discussions. A hacker group called "Mysterious Team Bangladesh" even launched a cyber attack campaign called "Operation OpSweden", using this fictional event as the theme and recruiting other hacker groups to participate.
It was later confirmed that these reports had no factual basis. Well-known fact-checking organizations such as Reuters, Snopes, Mashable, etc. have investigated and exposed these false information.
The fact-checking process
Following the uproar, several fact-checking organizations conducted in-depth investigations into the claims. The Swedish Sports Federation revealed that an individual named Dragan Bratic had applied to list sex as a sport and tried to establish the "Swedish Sexuality Federation", but the application was rejected in May this year on the grounds that "we still have not yet There are other things to do."
However, the unregistered Swedish Sex Federation still claims to go ahead with its sex competition plans and says the competition will be self-funded.
Clarification of Statement
Anna Seitzmann, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Sports Union, stressed that the spread of this false information not only damages the Swedish sports community, but may also have a negative impact on Sweden's international image. In fact, regarding the "Swedish Sexuality Alliance" mentioned in the statement, the Swedish Sports Federation has clarified that it has no cooperation or connection with any sexual organization.
The group, which is chasing victory, said it was disappointed not to receive support from a Swedish government fund set up for registered sports organisations.
The consequences of false reporting
As the truth of the incident came to light, some media deleted their original reports, but some media such as "Today India", "The Age" and "Independent Online" have not yet modified or withdrawn the relevant reports. This makes us think about how the media should improve its accuracy and responsibility when transmitting information.
This incident is not only a test of the news media's responsibility, but also an important reminder to readers and the public on how to distinguish true from false news. In this era of rapidly changing information, it is difficult for us to avoid the emergence of fake news, but how can we improve our media literacy and ensure that we are not fooled by false information?
