How is a false quote, which has been circulating since at least 2012 on social networks, still alive almost ten years later? This targets Christine Lagarde and the IMF. The former director of the International Monetary Fund reportedly said: “The elderly are living too long and there is a risk to the global economy. Something must be done, quickly! “
Problem: Nowhere is there any trace of such a declaration by Christine Lagarde, now head of the European Central Bank. An ECB spokesperson
has explained to our Spanish colleagues in Maldita
and AFP that Christine Lagarde did not make these remarks.
A text that has been circulating since at least 2012
According to our research, this false quote has been circulating since at least April 2012. It seems to have emerged in Latin America. On Twitter, Spanish-speaking internet users attributed it initially at the IMF, which was then headed by Christine Lagarde.
In April 2012, a report from the international organization made the headlines, including Spanish speaking. The international organization Bend over on the financial consequences of life expectancy. To face it, the organization offers several avenues, including that of a later retirement. Its economists also note that “it may be necessary to reduce the benefits” of retirement if the retirement age or the contribution period are not increased.
However, no trace of the quotation in this document, nor in his summary.
In July 2012, the text Finds himself directly attributed to Christine Lagarde on a far-left Spanish blog. The false declaration is there in the form of a parody meme, a montage which affixes this invented text to a photo of Christine Lagarde. This form is flourishing on the Internet and continues to circulate until 2021.
Quickly, the text spread in other languages: in July 2012, we find the trace on a Brazilian blog. A first user circulated it, partly truncated, in French in 2014 on Twitter.
Four years later, it is flourishing in English and Italian. An American blog then relay it, adding that the quote would be taken from a confidential “note” found in a trash can by a senior European Commission official. The following year, the false quote is also found
in Russian and
in German.
From one country to another, from one language to another, the text goes back and forth between different spheres of the Internet: social networks, forums, blogs, forums published on news sites, and even leaflets. It acquired a veneer of legitimacy in 2015 by finding itself in opinion pages of some Latin American news sites and is found in France as an argument
in a leaflet against the pension reform.
This pattern is not unique: other supposed quotations easily cross borders and languages, although they are not authentic.