The meaning of the term Hoax is becoming as widespread as rumors themselves. It simply refers to an English word meaning prank. It now designates all misinformation circulating on the net. It spreads through chain emails. A simple prank reserved for a limited audience can transform into widespread information or a family debate. One example: an article by the satirical newspaper, The Examineur, falsely claimed that Elodie Gossuin, Miss France 2001, was a man.
“The tax assessment for the residence tax now includes, as planned, the audiovisual license fee for the year 2005 (from 1/1 to 31/12/2005).
The tax office has not taken into account any payments already made to the ‘Audiovisual License Fee Service’ and bills the fee for an entire year at 116 EUR.
Many taxpayers, if they do not carefully examine their latest notice of deadline from the ‘Audiovisual License Fee Service,’ will end up paying twice for the same period of the year 2005.” This is a Hoax. An email received by many French people. Numerous taxpayers rushed to their tax centers. Some went out of concern for their budgets and misunderstanding, but others were alerted by the information read in an email.
For the anecdote, this information was relayed and deemed true on the show “On va se géner” hosted by Laurent Ruquier, with serious commentators like Pierre Bénichou on Europe1 on Tuesday, October 18th.
This Hoax may cause a smile, similar to the one about Elodie Gossuin (except for her), but others are much more questionable. After the tsunami, fake photos showing waves reaching fifteen stories were circulated solely to discredit the media distributing this image. Other emails exploit people’s compassion by calling for help or solidarity following the disappearance of young girls.
How then can we distinguish the true from false and the false from true?
These hoaxes, most of which start as simple pranks intended for a limited audience, highlight the gullibility of individuals. But it’s an understandable naivety. It is normal, when the source is deemed “serious,” to believe in the veracity of information. Constantly questioning it would mean denying the media.
A website detects Hoaxes, explains them, and categorizes them distinctly: chain, misinformation, scam, virus…
[https://www.hoaxbuster.com/](https://www.hoaxbuster.com/)
