An absolutely shocking story appeared in The Sun (HERE) claiming a company in Selby was offering "T-shirts spoofing the name of a poison gas used by the Nazis to murder Jews". According to the Murdoch owned paper, the items were apparently offered for sale on Red Bubble, an Australian based on-line market for artists offering printed products like T-shirts and other stuff.
The company is called ImperivmCloth and The Sun claims they are from 'Selby, North Yorkshire'.
This is fake news.
Five minutes research by The Sun would have revealed (a) there is no such company in Selby and (b) no such company in the UK. A bit more would have shown this 'company' has a FaceBook page (HERE) created in August 2017 with just 120 followers. The last post was on 22nd January 2018 and has had 6 views. It looks like a far-right, if not a neo-nazi, Eastern European outfit.
There is also a YouTube video now (HERE) from what appears to be a News website with a story that looks as if it was copied word-for-word from The Sun on the same day it was published, and is obviously intended to be spread as if it was genuine news in a mainstream British newspaper. This is surely fake news laundering after being given the Murdoch stamp of approval.
Red Bubble have now taken down the ad so we can't see it but the damage has been done and the 'news' website will get some hits. The ad apparently quoted the 'designers' saying:
“Just a couple of
guys, up to no good, starting to make trouble in your neighbourhood.” They add: “We’re pretty new, but we’ll have more and more designs
popping up all the time, so keep an eye out, and thanks for checking us
out!”
This was all in English although their Facebook page is not, but what language it is I don't know - Google Translate thinks it's Indonesian but I don't believe it is.
I realise this is happening all the time and a lot of people are taken in but you don't expect The Sun to cover such an inflammatory story without first checking or trying to speak to the 'designers'.
This is just a matter of days since the 75th anniversary of the D-day landings so it's even more shocking.
Brexit, and particularly Nigel Farage who in 2017 (HERE) apparently called upon a German anti-immigrant group to 'speak the unspeakable' so that people can 'think the unthinkable' is behind the rise in this sort of stuff. Well, the people are now doing exactly what Farage suggested.
The big question for me is why choose Selby? We are 15,000 people in the town and 80,000 in the whole district and hardly the centre of the universe.
What was it about Selby?
