The French and Russian media have mistakenly reported the death of Nobel literature laureate Svetlana Alexievich.
They referred to the Twitter account of the new French Minister of Culture Françoise Nyssen, which turned out to be a fake one.
A terrible news. Svetlana Alexievich dies. No details.
— Françoise Nyssen (@NyssenCulture) May 18, 2017
As the Belarusian media have found out, the writer is in Seoul where she is presenting her books.
Fake news about the death of Alexievich was posted, in particular, by Le Figaro newspaper. Soon the article was deleted, Meduza reports.
The news of the death of the Nobel prize winner also appeared on RIA Novosti and Interfax newsfeeds.
This account is hoax created by Italian journalist Tommasso Debenedetti
— Françoise Nyssen (@NyssenCulture) May 18, 2017
Tommasso Debendetti has created fake Twitter accounts of famous people and spread fake news since 2011. He, in particular, claimed the deaths of the Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The journalist managed to hoodwink the world’s largest media, including The New York Times, The Guardian and USA Today.