Hoaxmap – ''News from the rumor mill'' – is a project created on the personal initiative of Karolin Schwarz, an ethnologist of African studies from
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, Germany. Since February 8, 2016, the website hoaxmap.org is online, starting with a list of 177
hoax
A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...
es. In June 2016, 400 hoaxes were recorded with origin or reference point, including evidence of inaccuracy.
Most of the false reports and rumors consist of defamation against
refugees
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.
caught up in the
European migrant crisis
The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...
. Schwarz receives subtle threats from the political right. Other people thanked her for clarification. The hoax usually is spread due to prejudices of those holding a simplistic view, dividing the world into good and evil, and with a lack of
media literacy
Media literacy is an expanded conceptualization of literacy that includes the ability to access and analyze media messages as well as create, reflect and take action, using the power of information and communication to make a difference in the w ...
. News and broadcasts from Australia, USA, Arabia and Germany reported about the Hoaxmap project. In April 2016 Hoaxmap was nominated for ''
Grimme Online Award
The Grimme-Preis ("Grimme Award"; prior to 2011: Adolf-Grimme-Preis) is one of the most prestigious German television awards. It is named after the first general director of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, Adolf Grimme.Katharina Leuoth ''Schon gehört, …?'' (''tr. "Already heard"''), Freie Presse, 25 June 2016
Besides positive feedback, Falschmeldungen im Internet – Diese Karte entlarvt Gerüchte über Flüchtlinge. ' (''tr. "Internet Fake News - This map debunks rumors about refugees."'') In: ''
Süddeutsche Zeitung
The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and social-democrat.
History ...
'' online, 9 February 2016. subtle threats were sent to Schwarz.
In 2018 local news reduced reporting about false information, following which Hoaxmap could not list such rumors as refuted.
The map has drawn on data from other aggregators such as
Mimikama
Mimikama is a fact-checking site based in Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one ...