The activist group Extinction Rebellion (XR) claimed on Tuesday the dissemination of false information that the main Swedish pension fund would stop investing in fossil fuels, a deception supported by an elaborate device.
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On Monday, a press release had been distributed to several media in Sweden, which led to a false website (ap-fonderna.se), an absolutely true copy of the real site of Swedish public funds (apfonderna.se). With the exception of two press releases in English and Swedish, well written and presented with the graphic charter of the site, falsely claiming that the fund was coming from fossil fuels.
Identity theft
One of the activists, contacted by AFP for confirmation and details of the decision, even posed as the real spokesperson for the AP7 fund Johan Florén, giving journalists precise or credible details. The usurped fund, which will file a complaint with the police, condemned the action of " disinformation ", prepared by a Swedish cell of the environmental movement.
" When disinformation becomes an ordinary method, with fake sites, false reports and even people pretending to be someone else, it's not just journalism that will suffer, " commented to the AFP the real Johan Florén. “ People will also suffer. The citizens will give up and stop trying to make informed and democratic decisions, when no one will know what is wrong or not, ”he said. AFP canceled a dispatch based on the false press release when AP7 denied the information.
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"We are sorry"
The Agency " unreservedly condemns this dishonest attempt to manipulate the media with false information. This kind of action targeting the free press is counterproductive and can only contribute to a damaging erosion of confidence, ”responded its news director Phil Chetwynd. The false news was similar decisions made by other funds, in Scandinavia and around the world. In March, AP1, a sister fund to AP7, announced its withdrawal from fossil fuels.
Extinction Rebellion justified its action by the fact that it had " disseminated the press release that AP7 should have sent ", thus wishing to " put in the spotlight these laughable investments and push AP7 to sell them ".
“ We understand that we have caused confusion and we are sorry if any of you have felt cheated. We have great respect for journalism and we never wanted to affect trust in the media, ”writes the movement on the site used for deception. " Anna ", an activist of Extinction Rebellion who refused to give her real name, confirmed by telephone that she participated in the operation with a Swedish movement cell.
