• Crisis.Macron and Bolsonaro collide with the climate and fires of the Amazon
  • Environment: The UN expresses its alarm at the fires in the Amazon: "They worry and affect the entire world"
  • Brazil: The keys to fires in the Amazon
  • Deforestation: Forest fires in Brazil increase by 83%

When the news of the fires in the Amazon jungle monopolized the media, many users turned to Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to share their horror at the magnitude of the disaster. Also, many shared images burning forests.

However, not all of these photos reflect the current state of the Amazon, since many are images that were taken years ago . Some were even captured in other countries such as Peru which, although it belongs to the Amazon, has not been affected by recent fires. In addition, not only ordinary and common users have fallen into this trap, but also celebrities and politicians, who have a large number of followers, have been victims of the era of misinformation.

Politicians

"Our house literally burns the Amazon, the lung of our planet that produces 20% of our oxygen, is on fire, it is an international crisis. Members of the G7, see you in two days to talk about this emergency," he wrote on Twitter the French president, Emmanuel Macron , on the summit of this weekend in Biarritz .

But a reverse search of the photo used in his publication shows that he is from the American photographer Loren McIntyre , known for his work for National Geographic , who died in 2003 . Although the exact year of this image is unknown, it can be deduced that it is at least 16 years old.

For his part, the president of Chile , Sebastián Piñera , used an image of Nacho Doce , a Reuters photographer, who captured the image in 2013 in Novo Progresso, in the state of Pará, to warn about "forest fires" in Brazil and Bolivia .

Actors

The American actor Leonardo DiCaprio published two photos and none is current. One of them is the same that Macron shared and the second was captured in 2016 . The latter was taken in the Peruvian Amazon, Puerto Maldonado. However, so far Peru has not been affected by the fires.

See this post on Instagram

Actor Jaden Smith , son of Will Smith, shared another image showing a forest engulfed in flames to illustrate the fire in the Amazon. But the photograph, taken by Sipa Press , dates from 1989 . This Friday, the image had more than 1.5 million likes on his Instagram account.

See this post on Instagram

Athletes

Athletes have also fallen into this trap. World number one tennis player, Serbian Novak Djokovic , shared on Twitter the same photo that Jaden Smith posted on his networks, while British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton uploaded the same photo to the Instagram account as the French president.

For his part, the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has joined this trend with an Instagram post in which he expresses the urgency of the situation: "The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% of the world's oxygen and burns for 3 weeks" . But the photo that accompanies his message was taken on March 29, 2013 by Lauro Alves , of the Brazilian agency RBS, in the Amazon state of Rio Grande do Sul.

See this post on Instagram

Singers

Meanwhile, Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin and Cuban interpreter Camila Cabello have hung the same photo as Macron in their networks, dating back to at least 2003. Martin expressed outrage over the poor media coverage that this event has received in comparison with the fire of Notre Dame.

See this post on Instagram

The American singer Madonna has also published a photo of Sipa Press from the 80s. The artist has accompanied the image with a message addressed to the Brazilian Government: "President Bolsonaro, please change your policies and help not only your country but the planet whole. We must WAKE UP . "

See this post on Instagram

Although social networks have helped increase the coverage of forest fires, misinformation has led to an informative chaos in which current fires are being confused with those that took place years ago.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Celebrities
  • Jair Bolsonaro
  • Emmanuel Macron
  • Ricky Martin
  • Madonna
  • Cristiano Ronaldo

CienciaMacron and Bolsonaro collide with the climate and fires of the Amazon

PERIODISMOGeorge Packer: "The US has removed the elites to choose a jester instead"

Politics Brigitte Macron resorts to cosmetic surgery before starting her vacation