The Council of the Order of Journalists of Liguria, through lawyer Emanuele Tambuscio, filed a complaint yesterday morning with the Public Prosecutor's Office against the Facebook social channel 'News Italiane', which on Monday spread a story that turned out to be false about an alleged robbery and beating of a 92-year-old man, said to have occurred in Vesima in recent days. The story, within a matter of hours, was commented on and shared by thousands of users, many of whom were unaware it was fake news.
The Order, following reports from several colleagues, carried out a series of checks with the police headquarters, the carabinieri and other law enforcement agencies, which confirmed that the story described — replete with disturbing details — was false. The channel was deleted shortly afterwards, but the story of the fake Genoese beating is still present on the Facebook page "Prato Spazio Libero."
The lawyer, in the complaint, hypothesises the offence of "publication or dissemination of false, exaggerated or tendentious news, capable of disturbing public order, aggravated by the purpose of racial hatred." The Order has also established that the social channel is effectively clandestine, lacking registration of the publication with a court (as required by law) and with no journalists among its staff. The publication of the story was therefore deliberately fabricated to disturb public order and fuel racial hatred.
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