Fact-check: Fake social media posts spread misinformation about Storm Harry

A Facebook post warning that Malta’s airport would shut down because of strong winds is fake, airport officials confirmed, as misinformation spread rapidly ahead of Storm Harry.

The image, widely shared on WhatsApp throughout Monday afternoon, appears to be a screenshot purporting to show a post on the Malta International Airport (MIA) Facebook page.

The post supposedly warns that “the MIA runway will not be operational this evening and throughout tomorrow,” with all flights to and from Malta cancelled due to strong winds.

However, a spokesperson for MIA confirmed with Times of Malta that the image is not genuine and that the airport had become aware of the post after receiving reports of it being shared on WhatsApp.

The fake post warning of an airport shutdown due to strong winds.

The fake post appears to be a doctored version of an image originally posted by the MIA Facebook page over the weekend.

On Saturday, MIA posted a photo of the airport’s runway, accompanied by the caption “Early morning views”.

The doctored post uses the same image, however replaces the caption with the fake warning.

The spokesperson urged the public to visit the airport’s official social media accounts directly or its website for up-to-date information about scheduled flights.

Will flights be disrupted?

When asked whether to expect any service disruptions in view of the strong winds, the spokesperson said “no particular queries or requests have reached us as yet, however airlines do have ‘door opening’ parameters in strong wind conditions”.

“In terms of take-offs and landings, wind direction is expected to be favourable for aircraft operations on the main runway,” the spokesperson added.

Gozo ferry storm video dates back to 2010

As Malta braced for Storm Harry’s gale force winds, Maltese social media was hit with a wave of storm-related misinformation, with footage of years-old storms resurfacing and shared as new.

In one case, footage of a Gozo Channel ferry rocking perilously on the waves was posted to Facebook on Monday morning and shared by several local media houses, including national broadcaster TVM.

By the afternoon, the footage had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, with many who viewed the video taking to the comments section to describe the footage as “terrifying,” questioning why the ferry was in operation at all. Others expressed their gratitude towards the ferry’s crew members for continuing their work despite the trying weather conditions.

However, the same footage was first uploaded to YouTube almost 15 years ago, claiming to show strong winds during a storm on November 9 2010, with the title “rough sea gozo channel line”.

That YouTube video shows the same Gozo Channel ferry swaying in the sea, with Malta’s rocky coastline just to its side. As it moves closer to the camera, more of Malta’s coast enters the shot, showing waves smashing against Malta’s cliffs.

Just like the video that went viral on Monday, the 2010 YouTube video lasts just under two minutes, with seemingly no edits carried out to the footage before it was reshared this morning. The two videos correspond perfectly, with identical shots appearing at the same timestamps.

The YouTube video has been viewed 96,000 times in the 15 years since it was first uploaded.

The Times of Malta fact-checking service forms part of the Mediterranean Digital Media Observatory (MedDMO) and the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), an independent observatory with hubs across all 27 EU member states that is funded by the EU’s Digital Europe programme. Fact-checks are based on our code of principles. 

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