- On Facebook or Twitter, Greta Thunberg is mocked because she asked "the Chinese to stop using their traditional chopsticks and thus save hundreds of trees".
- The entourage of the Swedish activist confirmed that she had "never made such a statement".
- This false quote has been circulating since January on social networks and was probably invented with the aim of harming Greta Thunberg.
The dumpling would be "too good to pass up". Several viral posts, mainly relayed on Facebook, accuse Greta Thunberg of having called "the Chinese to stop using their traditional chopsticks and thus save hundreds of trees". In response, "the Chinese" or "the Chinese," depending on the version, advised the Swedish climate activist "to return to school, where she will learn that the sticks are made of bamboo, and that bamboo is a plant, not a tree. "
Billionaire Georges Soros, the bane of conspiracy seekers, is mentioned in some posts. Another variant makes a dubious comparison: "They [the Chinese] called her to stop wiping her behind with toilet paper because it is actually made of wood!" "
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The quote attributed to Greta Thunberg is, each time, not sourced. No interview of the activist can link or support these posts. The entourage of the young Swedish girl confirmed, in an article published on May 13 by the Reuters news agency in the United Kingdom, that she had "never made such a statement".
The French publications on Facebook or Twitter are, in fact, literal translations of posts already published in English during March. The false quote, as well as the reactions of the "Chinese", whose identity is never specified, has also been translated and shared in Danish and Dutch, according to Reuters.
By performing a Google search for "Greta Thunberg chopsticks", it is possible to find the trace of this false quote in a question asked on the Quora forum in mid-January. The author, located by the forum in Beijing, China, questions: "What do you think of Greta Thunberg who asks China to banish chopsticks? This user criticizes the activist for not asking Westerners in the first place to give up steel knives and forks.
Another occurrence of this false quote was found by Reuters in a January 15 tweet still available. A user located in the United States said there that "Greta said not to use chopsticks because it is a symbol of the destruction of the environment".
In summary, this false quote has been circulating since the start of the year on social networks. In more recent versions, shared since March, the reactions of supposedly "Chinese" have been added. The false quote was undoubtedly invented with the aim of harming Greta Thunberg and delegitimizing her fight against climate change.
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