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'Zombie' misinformation: 'Rape Day' hoax resurfaces on TikTok
In a sea of videos, many with millions of views, terrified women declared plans to lock themselves in their rooms all day and men vowed to protect them against imaginary assailants.
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This illustration photo created in Los Angeles, on April 14, 2023 shows a video played on Tik Tok where the user warns about the return of National Rape Day, a hoax that has resurfaced on TikTok for the second time. The hoax that rape was legal for a day was knocked down by fact-checkers two years ago. But it went viral again this year on TikTok, illustrating what researchers call “zombie“ misinformation. The stomach-churning falsehood that groups of men have declared April 24 as “National Rape Day,“ giving them free rein to commit sexual violence, crept its way to TikTok fame in 2021, sparking alarm in countries including the United States and Britain.
(AFP/Chris Delmas)
T
he hoax that rape was legal for a day was knocked down by fact-checkers two years ago. But it went viral again this year on TikTok, illustrating what researchers call "zombie" misinformation.
The stomach-churning falsehood that groups of men have declared April 24 as "National Rape Day," giving them free rein to commit sexual violence, crept its way to TikTok fame in 2021, sparking alarm in countries including the United States and Britain.
In a sea of videos, many with millions of views, terrified women declared plans to lock themselves in their rooms all day and men vowed to protect them against imaginary assailants.
In one, a hulking bare-torsoed man appeared to sharpen an axe with a whetstone, warning troublemakers not to "touch anyone I know."
An 11-year-old girl in Britain "afraid of being raped" went to school armed with knives, local media reported citing police officials.
TikTok users seized on reports of unrelated sexual crimes just before April 24 that year as evidence of the lurking threat, lending further credence to the myth.
Multiple fact-checking organizations debunked the misinformation. But that did not nip it in the bud.
