False news relaying the death of Jean Leloup circulated on social networks on Monday, fooling several internet users who actually believed that the singer had left us. A bad joke that reminds us that false information can sometimes spread like wildfire.
“It was a friend who is usually very well informed about the artistic milieu who sent me this news. I double-checked and when I saw that a lot of people had already shared the article, I did too. […] I double-checked once, but I should have double-checked four or five times! apologizes Alain Saulnier, the former director general of information for Radio-Canada, who is one of the people who were caught in the trap.
He quickly realized that the news he had just shared on his Facebook account was not true. The retired journalist sees it as proof that anyone can be taken in by fake news, even the best-informed people. Alain Saulnier therefore calls on Internet users to be extra careful.
The hoax, whose author is unknown, appeared on Facebook Monday morning, while Quebec was already mourning the death of actor Michel Côté. It was widely relayed afterwards, in particular by certain people who evolve in the middle of the show. According to a member of Jean Leloup’s family, the trickery fortunately did not go viral enough to go back to the singer’s relatives, who therefore did not have to worry unnecessarily.
This misleading article was written from the French platform Actualite.co, whose name may suggest a news media. But this is not the case: it is rather a site where Internet users are invited to create fake news as a joke, and this, in just a few clicks.
Moreover, the link to the hoax on Jean Leloup still existed on Tuesday morning, but led to an error message. We then quickly understands that the announcement of the death of the 62-year-old singer-songwriter was in fact a “joke”.
“The site has been designed for humorous, parodic and satirical purposes and is intended for informed users. fake news (news) are created by users who alone assume [sic] the contents. They have only a playful or parodic purpose ”, can we read in the legal notices of this obscure site.
In 2019, this same site had allowed a lambda Internet user to invent an article reporting that a man was wanted after having attacked several joggers in Puy-de-Dôme, in central France. A “joke” that did not make the police of the place laugh, who had been forced to make a point.
“The phenomenon of fake news could grow with artificial intelligence, which makes it possible to generate images. There is education to be done to prevent people from being fooled, but you also have to rely on people’s good judgment. The fake news about Jean Leloup has not circulated that much either, ”relivates Patrick White, professor at the School of Media at UQAM.