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AIBU?

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Original poster

To be annoyed when apparently reasonable and intelligent people share blatantly false 'warnings' on FB.

164 replies

EarlessToothlessVagabond · 07/08/2017 09:28

Yes I know it's fb and I have a choice to be on there but... come on!! I have friends (not just fb friends, real actual sane and sensible friends) who share the most awful, obviously fake warnings along the lines of 'DO NOT EAT BANANAS WITH BLUE STICKERS ON THEM THEY'RE ALL INFECTED WITH EBOLA ...RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!' etc. Why why why?!

OP posts:
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7
treaclesoda · 07/08/2017 15:11

Oh oh oh. I've just remembered another one.

Don't accept a friend request from X because if you do they'll take over your account and post porn on your Facebook wall but you'll not be able to see it, even though everyone else will.

SheilaBirling · 07/08/2017 15:30

Someone has just posted an apparent link about an attempted child abduction in Devon. At a National Trust property. Despite the report saying, "The police have received no report of such an incident" people are writing: "What the police doing? They should of arrested them there."

HippyChickMama · 07/08/2017 15:36

The fake medical advice is the worst. There's been one doing the rounds for a few years now that tells you how coughing can save your life if you're having a heart attack.
Firstly, it uses "heart attack" when it is actually referring to a cardiac arrest which is one of my pet hates. Secondly, it is referring to "cough CPR" which there is no evidence to support.
I'm an A&E nurse and we had a patient whose heart was beating irregularly and she delayed coming to hospital and tried coughing after seeing that shared on Facebook.

ThanksForAllTheFish · 07/08/2017 15:36

HappyAxolotl that was actually a Mumsnetter. She posted a thread on it before it hit the media. Someone being malicious and trying to close down her business through fake bad publicity.

ThanksForAllTheFish · 07/08/2017 15:44

Just remembered another one.

If you get a friend request from me do not accept it!!!! People are duplicating accounts and then stealing your friends list... blah blah blah.

My aunt is not very computer savvy and sends me Facebook messenger things like this all the time. see photos.

To be annoyed when apparently reasonable and intelligent people share blatantly false 'warnings' on FB.
To be annoyed when apparently reasonable and intelligent people share blatantly false 'warnings' on FB.
To be annoyed when apparently reasonable and intelligent people share blatantly false 'warnings' on FB.
Trills · 07/08/2017 15:59

Two people I know have had Facebook impersonators - other accounts opened using their profile picture and with their name, who then tried to add their friends.

It is a real thing that happens, but Facebook closed them down quickly after a couple of reports.

Trills · 07/08/2017 16:00

There's no need to personally message everyone you know, just because you heard that this happens, of course.

AlpacaPicnic · 07/08/2017 16:03

Sheila - I live near that NT property and sooo many people were sharing that post it was unreal. The local rag newspaper even did a shock horror click bait story on it, that ended with the police and staff denial that no such incident had been reported to them.

I had to sit on my hands to not post some pointed replies to that.

Willow2017 · 07/08/2017 16:18

Back in the days before fb I used to get this shite by email!

Got sick to death of it from people who had nothing better to do than trawl the internet for 'amazing' stories and instructions on everything under the sun
Washing strawberries in hot soapy water was one. Apparently if you didn't you would be eating 1 million bugs which live on the top of a strawberry and hot soapy water was the only way to save yourself from them😀
Every sodding day there would be 12 or more emails full of this shite it was filling up my inbox and taking up my time when I was doing work emails getting rid of it. They also screwed up another relatives business email address with thier nonsense yet they couldn't see the harm in it!
It all came to a head when they posted some awful 'health advice' about strokes and recommended taking aspirin every day to prevent them. Thing was the recommended dose was 3 times the actual therapeutic dose in nhs guidelines and didn't mention anything about contra indications. The piece was so full of holes a blind man could see them!
I lost it at that point and not only liked to debunking site but pulled them up on the dangers of aspirin misuse and its side effects. (Nurse ethics kicked in!)
Never got another email since!

Bloody annoys me people with no medical knowledge passing on info that could kill someone.

BasketOfDeplorables · 07/08/2017 16:34

The #bringapen lot at elections are my favourite. All those people who are ready, rubber in hand, to alter your vote, but it's beyond them to just swap the ballot paper for a different one.

SheilaBirling · 07/08/2017 16:40

Alpaca - it is so ridiculous! I read one of the comments on the report which also said that police should swoop in and "sort out the rumour".

Sunshinelollypops · 07/08/2017 17:16

Slightly off topic but I remember a friend sending a group message about an imminent terrorist attack and not to use the tube as she had heard from someone who had heard from someone etc. etc. whose husband was in the police that all leave was cancelled as they were expecting an attack on the underground the next day. I knew it was rubbish but it still ruined my evening!

user1497357411 · 07/08/2017 17:21

also people who share that someone is missing without checking with the police first. Sometimes it is NOT the police looking for that woman. She is NOT missing, she is running away from her abusive DP or DH and it is HIM who is looking for her. When one of my facebook friends post/shares something like that, I will google to see if the police is looking for her and if not, I will contact my FBfriend with my concern, that sharing the post is endangering the woman.

Terfing · 07/08/2017 17:40

This thread could use a little intellect...

To be annoyed when apparently reasonable and intelligent people share blatantly false 'warnings' on FB.
Terfing · 07/08/2017 17:40

Oh, how I love Minion memes. They're hilarious, right?

To be annoyed when apparently reasonable and intelligent people share blatantly false 'warnings' on FB.
Terfing · 07/08/2017 17:41

Girl power!

To be annoyed when apparently reasonable and intelligent people share blatantly false 'warnings' on FB.
CockacidalManiac · 07/08/2017 18:41

Here you go, Terfing

To be annoyed when apparently reasonable and intelligent people share blatantly false 'warnings' on FB.
NannyRed · 07/08/2017 18:47

I just ignore the private messages that say "do not eat bananas with blue stickers" if they post it on Feb I find the link that says "THIS IS FAKE" post the link then wait for the abuse.

I'm sure there really is bigger things to worry about. Ignore them or show them the error of their ways, but don't lose any sleep.

treaclesoda · 07/08/2017 18:58

Slightly off topic but I remember a friend sending a group message about an imminent terrorist attack and not to use the tube as she had heard from someone who had heard from someone etc. etc. whose husband was in the police that all leave was cancelled as they were expecting an attack on the underground the next day. I knew it was rubbish but it still ruined my evening!

That reminds me, do you remember a few years back there were a spate of posts that went something like this. 'My friend saw a Muslim lady drop her purse yesterday and she ran after her to give it back. The lady held her hand and looked her in the eyes and said 'for your kindness, I want to give you some advice. Please don't go into Manchester/Birmingham/central London/to the outer Hebrides on Saturday' and then she walked off. I know it's true because it happened to my friend.

Sure it did. Hmm

exexpat · 07/08/2017 21:34

treaclesoda - that 'Muslim lady' one is an adaptation of an 'Irish lady' (or similar) one which did the rounds back in the day when IRA bombs were going off in British cities. It was fake back then too...

Is Facebook still doing the thing where under some posts it puts 'you may also be interested in these posts' and quite often includes a Snope link debunking the original post? Saves time looking things up.

WineAndTiramisu · 07/08/2017 21:59

I always link to evidence debunking whatever is posted, did it earlier on the paracetamol having horrible viruses on it one, but you always get the "better safe than sorry" bunch.
It's always the same bloody people as well...

Biker47 · 07/08/2017 22:49

"We're not allowed to legally sell these campervans worth £70,000 each, so we're giving away a half dozen of them, all you have to do is like this post, share it, and tag 10 friends to be in a chance of winning one"

Aye right.

ShotsFired · 08/08/2017 08:05

And let's not forget how often Lidl/Aldi/Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury's give away £70 vouchers to celebrate some random event or other.

Really? Come on people.

Anniegetyourgun · 08/08/2017 09:33

I'm not on FB but I get loads of those giveaway voucher things in my email. Funnily enough they all have "background" addresses that aren't at all like the company's usual one... hooray for the spam folder.

There was a thread a while ago, probably in AIBU, about people not watching the news any more - well, I could understand the ones who felt it just raised their anxiety levels to no good purpose, but there was one at least who took pride in getting their information on current affairs from social media. Their theory was that if it was important it would be on their FB feed, which apparently is far less likely to be biased than mainstream media such as the BBC. This thread 'ere suggests that approach may not be entirely without pitfalls.

mejon · 08/08/2017 09:54

Ive just had the paracetamol virus one this morning. I'll add a link to Snopes when I can be bothered. Some of the biggest culprits for tnis on my FB are people who really should know better - teachers and the worst is a very highly educated surgeon who now lives in the US who can no doubt afford his own 'unsaleable' RV or iPad!