A SCREENSHOT, SUPPOSEDLY showing an article about the risk of heart attacks brought on by climate change in pregnant men, is fake.
The image, which appears to show a headline from the Irish Independent, was shared on social media platforms, including on the Instagram account of Malcolm Roberts, an Australian Senator who described it as “Sarcasm”.
However, other accounts appeared to take the image seriously, sharing the image with captions of outrage, or, in one case, a caption implying that the made-up heart attacks were actually caused by mRNA vaccines.
The headline in the screenshot reads: “Study finds that pregnant men are most at risk from heart attacks brought on by climate change.”
However, the screenshot is fake.
The publication date is visible in the image, usually given as February 28, but sometimes shown as April 1 – April Fool’s Day. The Irish Independent did not publish such an article on either of those dates.
No record of such an article published on the Independent.ie website can be found, nor can any records that the outlet posted about such an article on their social media pages.
A spokesperson from the company that publishes the Irish Independent confirmed that the screenshot was doctored.
“We confirm that the image you shared is not genuine,” Mary Gallagher, Company Secretary for the Mediahuis Ireland Group Limited, told The Journal. “This headline is quite clearly not real.”
The Journal regularly sees misinformation spread due to doctored headlines, probably, in part, because altered screenshots are so easy to create. Fake headlines that appear to be from The Journal have previously been used to spread health misinformation on social media
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