Swedes received a lesson in the internet’s power for deception when a Facebook group claiming to support heart research suddenly changed into one aimed at scrapping women’s right to vote.
The Facebook group originally promised it would send three kronor ($0.42) to organizations involved in heart research for every member that joined.
Membership in the group grew exponentially, quickly climbing into the tens of thousands.
But when the group reached 80,000 members, it changed its stated purpose from supporting research to working toward depriving women of their right to vote.
The group’s Facebook page suddenly claimed that its members “don’t think that women should be allowed to have the right to vote”, followed by a number of arguments against women’s suffrage.
The group’s 20-year-old founder said he pulled the bait-and-switch to encourage people to stop believing everything they read.
Read more in The Local (Se).