The English term hoax is not part of the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ), although its use is frequent in our language. The Urgent Spanish Foundation – Fundéu BBVA , in any case, suggests replacing it with a hoax , hoax or hoax .
A hoax, in short, is fake news that is spread for some purpose. It is a lie that is made known as a truth so that people believe in its supposed truthfulness.
The dissemination of a hoax was usually done through media such as television and radio . In recent years, however, the Internet has become the ideal terrain for its spread. Social networks, email chains and comments on digital portals and newspapers are usually the ideal means for those who want to spread fake news.
Generally, a hoax does not have the main objective of generating profit. Its purpose is to cause some type of damage or influence public opinion with political intentions.
This kind of deception is common during election times . Suppose two candidates face each other in a runoff . To harm the rival, a hoax is launched from the campaign team of one of the leaders assuring that the competitor owns a mansion that he has never declared in court and has millions of dollars in a tax haven. Both data are false, but the idea is to attack the image of the candidate so that people do not vote for him.
To spot a hoax, experts suggest being wary of anonymous messages that don't cite a trusted source and ask the recipient to share or forward it. When in doubt, it is best to eliminate the message and not contribute to increasing the reach of the fallacy.
This type of fake news can spread through different digital media, whether social networks, email inboxes, forum communities or even instant messaging services. In WhatsApp, for example, it is very common to receive a malicious chain of messages, although it is quite easy to identify it to proceed to block the user or, if necessary, report them.
The first point to keep in mind when using any of these platforms is that not all suspicious content is in fact a hoax. We must remember that some genuine messages are not presented in the best possible way because their creators do not have a good grasp of the program or because they have created it without paying attention to spelling correction.
If we suspect the veracity of a message, we must be very cautious before taking a step, since if it is a hoax it could also harm our contacts if we do not stop it in time. Although the Civil Guard and the Local Police treat these types of problems with more seriousness every day, we have a tool on the Internet that can clear up doubts in a couple of seconds: our favorite search engine. If we have been on the receiving end of a well-known fake chain, then we will know it by seeing the numerous complaints on the forums.
A common example of a hoax spread through WhatsApp is a warning about an alleged terrorist attack targeting public transportation. The body of the message may include a recommendation to avoid buses and the subway for a few days, something that could cause serious work or student problems for those who believed everything literally. If we add to this a background such as "I have obtained the information from a relative who works in the police", it is up to each person to decide whether to risk their life or their job. To avoid either of these two extremes, we must confirm the legitimacy of the message.