SEOUL, South Korea – South Korean authorities have been desperately detecting and exterminating bedbugs for the last two weeks, as a major disinfection of transportation and public facilities is on the way.

  • Heresy_generator@kbin.social
    283·
    1 year ago

    Nope. That was actually just a false propaganda campaign.

    There was no sudden infestation, people were just primed to look for them because of the fake news campaign and so found them, took pictures of them, and spread the fake panic even further.

    Nicolas Roux de Bézieux, co-founder of the Badbugs site, which connects individuals with pest control professionals, added: “The mistake [is] to believe that the increase in bedbugs is strong and sudden. In reality, it has been constant and gradual for years.”

    Like usual, the lies made it around the world twice before the truth got its shoes on.

    • acutfjg@feddit.nlEnglish
      181·
      1 year ago

      I mean, if people were primed to look for them, and then found them, is that really propaganda? Sounds like they have a bed bug problem that was being ignored until recently. If all the findings are true that is.

      • Heresy_generator@kbin.social
        172·
        1 year ago

        bogus articles were shared across social media, alleging that essential Russian chemicals were needed to create insecticides but with imports banned due to sanctions, France was left helpless against the insect invasion.

        Other posts highlighted to French TV station RNC by military sources, said that “the anti-bedbug agent used in furniture and most wood materials is made in Russia “and that due to sanctions imposed on this substance”, spraying had stopped.

        The fake reports repeatedly cite La Montagne as the source of this assertion, often by sharing a screenshot of an article allegedly published by the media outlet, which dates from October 4, and is titled “Sanctions against Russia have led to an epidemic of bedbugs in Paris”.

        La Montagne told AFP Factuel they had never published such an article, and denounced the fake articles on social media as “forgery”.

        Yes. That’s really propaganda.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      1 year ago

      Wow! That story blew up so fast I kinda wondered if it was propaganda, but I couldn’t figure out who would benefit so I shrugged my shoulders.