Five years ago a series of political events made two concepts fashionable: “fake news” and “post-truth”. Both made reference to the ability of fake news to insert itself into the collective imagination and take on an almost physical reality. The empirical facts, the result of social networks and ideological polarization, had been transformed into liquid and abstract entities. They no longer mattered as such. Only its interpretation by a certain audience was relevant.
Today both ideas have squared the circle.
Sorry for nothing. During the last days a hoax has traveled certain corners of social networks. Namely, that David Broncano, presenter of The resistance, had taunted the victims of the deadly outrage that took place at the Montealto Bilingüe Promotion College on November 4. Newtral details the hoax and the confusion: a few hours after the accident, Jorge Ponce, one of the collaborators, starred in a sketch in which he laughed at the overprotection of today’s students. His speech closed with the logo of a fictitious school.
The school in question: El Hayedo de Montealto College. The motto: Education, Creativity, Freedom.
𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨 𝐞𝐥 𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝𝐨 𝐝𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐨
𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺.𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮👏🏻 @LaloTenorio_ pic.twitter.com/ZtF9N1bMOl
– The Resistance in Movistar + (@LaResistencia) November 5, 2021
How to go viral. The similarity of the two names (Montealto vs. Montealto) and the broadcast times of the program (a few hours after the incident) caused a hoax to circulate like wildfire among conservative circles: Broncano and therefore Movistar + laughed at an unfortunate tragedy. None of this was true, as the presenter himself I would explain on Twitter. El Hayedo de Montealto College does not exist; and the program that night had been recorded weeks before the accident (although it was broadcast later, a common practice on television).
Exaggeration. Given that Broncano has never hidden his sympathies for the left, the above coincidences led to a hoax as interested as it was viral. During the last days, numerous accounts have shared the manipulated video in which The resistance laughs at the girls run over in Montealto, including Hermann Tertsch, a former journalist, professional shaker and MEP for Vox. In his message, already deleted, he challenged Broncano for his bad taste. He was one of many. Other former deputies, as Juan Carlos Girauta, they also shared it.
During the days immediately following the accident, the snowball became more and bigger. As in other long-term hoaxes, it did not matter too much that numerous accounts or the media warned about the falsity of the reported facts.
The corollary. So far everything normal. Nothing that we have not experienced before. The extraordinary came last night, when the official account of Movistar +, a platform that broadcasts La Resistencia and pays Broncano’s salary, had to apologize for some events … that had never happened: “We deeply regret the treatment of a matter, which, connected to the tragedy that occurred last week at the doors of a school in Madrid, has extraordinarily hurt the sensibilities of many people”. We regret a hoax.
To which they added: “We would also like to ensure that the intention that motivated the video shown in one of our programs is not related to such a painful event. From Movistar + we want to reiterate our condolences to the affected families.” Reality was folding in on itself and Movistar deemed it convenient to deny the plausibility of a lie designed to undermine its public image. In a twisted way, it was the most absolute triumph of post-truth.
We deeply regret the treatment of an issue, which, connected with the tragedy that occurred last week at the gates of a school in Madrid, has extraordinarily hurt the sensibilities of many people.
– Movistar + (@MovistarPlus) November 10, 2021
The bottom. How is it possible that a distorted, manipulated and false fact becomes true by mere reproduction of the message? As we have seen on more than one occasion, fake news does not triumph because of its true or false nature. They do so because they resonate with the ideological biases of a certain group. The people who share the most hoaxes are not the most ignorant (that is, those who believe them the most) but those who hate their political rival the most (that is, those who most want to believe them). Did it matter that the sketch did Broncano really laugh at the girls who were run over? No. It served a narrative, something more important.
That is why it succeeded. And that is why Movistar has had to come out to apologize. Even if it was all false.