Why do people want so badly to believe this fake story is true?
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The most widely read story on our website last week was about the fake animal stories going viral on social media—the dolphins supposedly in Venetian canals and the elephants purportedly making themselves at home in a town in China, getting drunk on corn wine. (Pictured above: a real “dolphin-free” canal in Venice.)
We’re all desperate to find the light in a crisis.
Most of our readers on Facebook talking about the story were glad to learn the truth. Spreading something that’s not true—whether it’s as small as a positive story about animals or as consequential as an unproven cure for COVID-19—can make people feel even more distrustful during a time of vulnerability, social psychologist Erin Vogel told Nat Geo’s Natasha Daly.
It’s
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