Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that his company would end its fact-checking service. A decision which risks encouraging the circulation of false news on the social networks concerned, Facebook and Instagram. The Press offers you a little game to prepare you for this worrying scenario: differentiate the true from the false in the following five short stories.
Published at 7:00 a.m.
Pigeon flights
In Belgium, the number of homing pigeon flights among pigeon fanciers is increasing. According to the president of the Royal Belgian Pigeon Federation (RFCB), there have been at least a dozen burglaries over the last two months.
PHOTO OLI SCARFF, AGENCE France-PRESSE ARCHIVES
According to the president of the Royal Belgian Pigeon Federation, there have been at least a dozen flights of racing pigeons over the last two months. True or false?
Answer
TRUE. Believe it or not, Belgian homing pigeons are highly sought after. Once considered a simple hobby, pigeon racing has become a real industry since Chinese and Qatari investors entered the game. Considered the best in the world, Flemish pigeons are sold for a fortune, like the famous New Kim, sold at auction for more than CAN 2 million in 2020. Note that the burglars not only kidnapped the pigeons, but also their eggs in certain cases. Never seen before, according to the breeders concerned.
Leaders and garbage sorting
In Béziers, France, leaders Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are the stars of a new advertising campaign to promote garbage sorting.
PHOTO SYLVAIN THOMAS, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
In Béziers, France, leaders Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are the stars of a new advertising campaign to promote garbage sorting. True or false?
Answer
TRUE. On Saturday, January 4, the three men appeared on posters with the inscription “Don’t forget to sort the waste,” a thinly veiled allusion to the fact that these three autocrats are trash. This publicity stunt was not unanimous, even less so in Iran, where it aroused indignation. Faced with negative reactions, the city’s mayor, Robert Ménard, announced that he would backtrack. This is not the first controversy provoked by this former National Front, known for his daring, sometimes violent municipal marketing. “Advertising is always the search for how far we can go too far,” summarizes Bernard Motulsky, professor in the department of social and public communication at UQAM. And the answer is the reaction that gives it…”
Eat your tree
Speaking of waste sorting… Did you know that the city of Ghent, Belgium, encouraged its citizens to eat their Christmas trees in order to avoid waste?
PHOTO NICOLAS TUCAT, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
The city of Ghent, Belgium, encouraged its citizens to eat their Christmas trees in order to avoid waste. True or False?
Answer
TRUE. Citing Scandinavian recipes as an example, the Flemish municipality suggested, on its website, recycling Christmas trees into edible dishes, in particular by making butter with the needles. The Belgian Federal Agency for Food Safety (AFSCA) immediately recalibrated the City, pointing out the possible presence of pesticides on these conifers. “Nothing can guarantee the safe consumption of Christmas trees by both humans and animals,” ruled the AFSCA. The Ghent authorities had to reformulate their proposal.
A singing cycle path
In the Netherlands, the city of Middelburg has just inaugurated a “singing cycle path” to encourage cyclists to sing without censoring themselves, especially when they pass other bikes.
PHOTO MARCEL VAN HOORN, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
In the Netherlands, the city of Middelburg has just inaugurated a “singing cycle path” to encourage cyclists to sing without censoring themselves, especially when they pass other bikes. True or false?
Answer
TRUE. The inauguration of this original path took place on December 13, with the installation of the following sign: “Singing cycle path: here, you can officially sing on your bike! No more stopping in the middle of a song when you meet another cyclist! » Surprising, and yet, this is not the first initiative of its kind in the Netherlands, which has had around fifteen singing tracks since 2013, the very first having been established in Amsterdam. The only downside (scuse it): the Middleburg singing trail – which crosses a park – would only be 200 meters long, “or around 40 seconds of singing”, reports the Dutch newspaper Fidelitytranslated by International mail.
Hollywood in flames
In Los Angeles, the famous letters HOLLYWOOD were engulfed in flames.
PHOTO DAMIAN DOVARGANES, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
In Los Angeles, the famous letters HOLLYWOOD were engulfed in flames. True or false?
Answer
Fake. This false news has been circulating for a few days, but no. While it is true that the flames reached the Hollywood Hills, they spared the legendary letters that have overlooked the city since 1923. The director of the Hollywood Sign Trust, Jeff Zarrinnam, had to deny the false news, which had spread on the Web faster than the fires themselves. “The sign itself is not affected and is secure,” Mr Zarrinnam confirmed.
