Images shared and relayed hastily, in the shock of the drama that has just unfolded. This is the line that many fake news follow, which go viral after a disaster. The earthquake which struck Morocco during the night from Friday to Saturday, and which left 2,681 dead according to a provisional report, did not escape this rule. 20 minutes reviews three fake news stories that have circulated on social networks and even in the media for some of them.
- This building did not collapse during this weekend’s earthquake
This is one of the most viral images of the weekend on social networks. A building collapses at night. Too quickly attributed to Friday’s earthquake, this collapse actually took place three years ago.
We have traced this video, taking a screenshot of the video. A reverse image search returns the highest quality image of the building. A second reverse image search using this new image returns a YouTube video posted in 2020. The video is titled “Sebata [en réalité Sbata] At Casablanca “. A search with keywords returns articles dated August 6 and 7, 2020, in the Al-Masoudia district, located in the district of Sbata, in the Moroccan city of Casablanca. A second video published by the Moroccan site Challenge shows the collapse of the building. The collapse had caused one victim, the Bladi website wrote on August 7.
- The Eiffel Tower was not lit up in the colors of Morocco
The famous Parisian monument did not pay tribute to the victims of the earthquake, being illuminated in the colors of the Moroccan flag, contrary to a montage circulating on Facebook. The opposite choice was made to pay tribute to the victims: Paris City Hall caused the famous monument to be extinguished to 11 p.m. Saturday, two hours before the lights usually end.
- Cristiano Ronaldo’s luxury hotel in Marrakech was not transformed into a refuge
“Cristiano Ronaldo’s hotel on the outskirts of Marrakech serves as a refuge after the earthquake in Morocco,” headlined the Spanish newspaper Marca, in an article published in English on Saturday. The site was based on the story of a Spanish tourist, who told a Spanish channel that she had spent the night outside, then managed to find a room in the early morning in this hotel, the Pestana CR7. At no time does the young woman speak of any transformation of the hotel into a “refuge”. The establishment refuted with Release this assertion of Marca “This is false information. All the customers we have at the moment have made a reservation normally. »
In 2020, CR7’s family had already had to deny a rumor according to which the attacker had transformed his hotels in Portugal into hospitals to accommodate Covid-19 patients. A rumor certainly born from the reputation for generosity which surrounds the Portuguese striker.