It all started with a massively diffused joke on the WhatsApp smartphone application. To parody the warning messages related to the coronavirus that are blooming on the platform, Billy McLean, a 29-year-old Englishman, sent an audio message to his friends.
My sister’s boyfriend works at the Minister of Defense and right now they’re making giant lasagna, warned McLean. As I speak, they are making huge sheets of lasagna. They will heat the Wembley floor, bake the lasagna and close the roof to give the effect of an oven. Then they will transport portions with drones to bring them to people’s homes.
Within hours, the voice message was shared thousands of times, so the English Football Federation was forced to react and deny the information, as unlikely as it may seem.
Confirming that it had heard the viral message, the Federation officially signaled that it had no intention of transforming Wembley into a glove oven.
Questioned by the Guardian, McLean explained that he wanted to make people aware of the importance of information processing during the coronavirus health crisis, to see how quickly hoaxes can circulate and be taken seriously.
(nxp)
– .
