Fake News: Sharks in streets as Hurricane Florence hits North Carolina

With hurricane Florence creating havoc in the United States, the residents of North Carolina are not just battling the deadly hurricane, but an even more dangerous enemy “fake news”.

Like every hurricane, this time around too, sharks seemed to be invading the US.

To curb the news regarding the sudden influx of shark sightings in the water flooding the street, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has rolled a rumor-control webpage.

The shark-related rumours first appeared on social media in 2017, when Scottish journalist Jason Michael McCann tweeted out a fake picture of a shark swimming down a street, with the caption, “Believe it or not, this is a shark on the freeway in Houston, Texas. #HurricaneHarvy.” 

The post was retweeted more than 80,000 times.

This year too, McCann posted an identical tweet about Florence sending the internet into a frenzy. 

The post has so far been reshared more than 3,000 times.