One duty of the fact checker as it pertains to internet rumors is the continued push back against those stubborn canards that consistently resurface. (Analogies of whack-a-mole are brought to mind.)
“Civil War Erupts In Sweden as Irate Swedes Burn Nine Muslim Refugee Centers to the Ground” is one such mole.
The website opreminfo.com republished a three-year-old claim on Thursday, purporting that “Refugee centers in Sweden are being burned to the ground in what appears to be a statement against the significant number of refugees the country has allowed in.”
Opreminfo.com’s article links to a YouTube video from 2015 that makes similar claims about anti-refugee anarchy in Sweden, specifically that “refugee centers in Sweden are being burned to the ground.” The video currently touts a comfortable 261,391 views, despite the primary claim and image used being both incorrect and misattributed.
In recent years, Sweden has seen alleged arson attacks on several mosques as well as Jewish burial chapels. But the country is not erupting in “civil war” and the arson attacks on refugee centers occurred several years ago. The photo used in Opreminfo.com’s post (as well as the YouTube video linked) is, as PolitiFact noted last year, from a 2013 fire engulfing a Swedish recycling station.
When the article first circulated on sites such as Powdered Wig Society in 2015, there had been a spate of alleged arson attacks on over a dozen centers housing asylum seekers, as Reuters reported at the time. Opreminfo.com’s article, however, was published Thursday, July 12, and is thus incorrect in its portrayal of the incidents as currently taking place. The article is also incorrect when it claims that “civil war” has begun in Sweden.
The incorrect article circulated on sites such as savemysweden.com, tacticalshit.com, as well as the Facebook page “Radio Biafra.” More recently, the claim gained traction on Twitter:
CIVIL WAR ERUPTS IN SWEDEN AS IRATE SWEDES BURN NINE MUSLIM REFUGEE CENTERS
“Refugee centers in Sweden are being burned to the ground in what appears to be a statement against the…number of refugees the country has allowed in.”https://t.co/ChzAxfsayT https://t.co/C5sPPGSteS pic.twitter.com/Dh1elofuj3
— @gary[WontBackDown] (@gbroh10) May 31, 2018
A dash of truth mixed with an incorrect timeline and a large helping of hyperbole makes for false story.
If you have questions about this fact check, or would like to submit a request for another fact check, email Holmes Lybrand at [email protected] or the Weekly Standard at [email protected]. For details on TWS Fact Check, see our explainer here.
