Joanna was quoted in fake Russian viral bomb about Sweden's corona strategy: "Surrealistic"

The site Haqqin already states in the headline that Sweden "renounces the fight against Corona" and the conclusion here is that the virus does not threaten people. To illustrate the situation in Sweden, one has used a summer image from the Old Town and another taken from a Falungong demonstration.

It may sound banal and obviously wrong, but the fact is that the article has received an extremely large spread.

Through the Crowdtangle analysis tool you can see that the article received 280,000 interactions on Facebook and thus belongs to one of the most shared articles about Sweden ever in Russian-speaking media.

As a witness from Sweden, you cite a Polish-Swedish triathlete in the article that encourages other athletes to come to Sweden and that sporting events are going on as usual. In the article, she also states that a corona-infected doctor may continue to work in the hospital.

Through her Facebook page, she has written a post about corona in Sweden, but the quotes do not match the article.

When SVT contacts Joanna, she is very surprised and does not know the article or site that quotes her. On the contrary, she states that she has not participated in any interview.

“I was very surprised and was not aware of any article. I have definitely not been in contact with any media at all. The whole thing is surreal, ”she writes in an email to SVT.

The rigorous dissemination prompted researcher Martin Kragh, from the Foreign Policy Institute and Uppsala University, to investigate the article more closely. He notes that there are a number of circumstances with the article that, in short, are not right.

- Even at first glance, you see that it is an incredibly hard-angled heading, furthermore it can be noted that there are a number of factors that simply do not agree and fall on their own unreasonableness, he tells SVT.

Martin Kragh believes that the motive is difficult to pronounce and wants to avoid speculative play, but notes at the same time that there are a number of circumstances that are suspicious.

- You get the feeling that it is a person who has consciously invented. What makes it striking is that all the parts have a negative tendency and that everyone goes in the direction of pointing out the situation in Sweden as worse than it actually is, he says.