A few days ago we saw strange content in WhatsApp (see image for this message). This is said to be a screenshot from the website of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, or more precisely: a job advertisement.
The Federal Office would therefore allegedly be looking for extras (male and female; “diverse” was not mentioned in the alleged job advertisement, although this is required by law) for image and video recordings. The extras should be corpulent and appear at “demonstrations against the right and at protests against deportations”. The remuneration is supposedly a minimum wage (this does not exist in official tenders, but the public service collective agreement always applies) plus allowances. In addition, the Federal Office covers the travel costs and covers meals.
It should immediately be clear to any sensible person what kind of outrageous nonsense this alleged advert is. This fake only serves to defame the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees and to stir up hatred. But is this nonsense new?
It started as a satire…
No that's not him. The Austrian security portal Mimikama.at investigated this fake news in this article. Accordingly, this malicious and hate-mongering hoax has been appearing on social media for a long time (we encountered it on Whatsapp, as mentioned before). It started in 2017, two years after the refugee crisis of 2015.
The fake ad was made in 2017 by the site “Daily Fake News” and described there as daily satirical news. The original tweet that this site used to spread its fake via Twitter (now: X) is no longer available.
… and lives on as a defamatory hoax
The problem, however, is that the content of the tweet, i.e. the alleged job advertisement, was shared more and more widely on social networks – by interested xenophobic and right-wing extremist circles who wanted and want to use it to deliberately denigrate the Federal Office and the Federal Government. It was no longer satire, but defamation and incitement.
The Federal Office for Migration denied the authenticity of the “ad” to Mimikama.at and described it as a fake. The Federal Office never looked for extras for demonstrations or similar purposes.