An article that claims that a man who organized the Olympic Rings the Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Sochi, Russia, is a satire, but people keep sharing it as if it were the real thing.
The article was published on the Daily Currant, a satire news website, which claims Borris Avdeyev was stabbed, and his body was found in a Sochi hotel room. “The man responsible for operating the Olympic Rings during last night’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Russia was found dead today,” reads the article, which has more than 580,000 shares on Facebook and 15,000 tweets.
The Daily Currant--a sparse-looking website with few articles--says in its disclaimer that it is “an English language online satirical newspaper that covers global politics, business, technology, entertainment, science, health and media. It is accessible from over 190 countries worldwide.”
“Our mission is to ridicule the timid ignorance which obstructs our progress, and promote intelligence - which presses forward,” it states, adding that “our stories are purely fictional.”
But on Twitter and Facebook on Feb. 15, users were still talking about the fake article as if it were real.
One wrote: “Allegedly guy that messed up Olympic Rings during opening ceremony isn’t anymore!”
“The guy who opened the Olympic Rings was murdered the night of that ceremony because the fifth ring never opened up,” added another.
