Fake News: False Claims Spread About 11-Year-Old Boy Killed By Salina Park Security Worker
Claims circulating social media about a security worker killing an 11-year-old Serbian boy at the Salina Park in St Paul’s Bay have been confirmed as false.
The claims first surfaced on a Facebook group for Serbians living in Malta, with numerous people raising alarms upon hearing the fabricated news.
Lovin Malta reached out to the Malta Police Force, with a spokesperson confirming that no one was injured or killed at the park and that it was simply a false allegation.
A screenshot of the post from the Facebook group
A concerned citizen translated the original post and explained that a group of Serbian children were playing football in the park when suddenly a member of the security staff began shouting at the children to stop kicking the ball – because they were “serbs”.
This worker is described as “an idiot, a moron, a killer, a maniac” in the post, which proceeded to say that an 11-year-old boy went up to the worker and asked why the Serbian children weren’t allowed to play.
It goes on to claim that the man subsequently pushed the boy with such force that he fell and hit his head on a sharp trash can, causing him to lose consciousness and that thus ultimately led to his death.
As this information was spread across the web, the fake statements made began to change. These ranged from the boy who lost his life being 11 (as per the original post), to others claiming the boy was 14.
This incident serves to highlight the danger of misinformation and fake news, as well as the media’s ability to slowly alter information from one post to another – not unlike a game of telephone.
Have you ever fallen prey to fake news?
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