Hoaxmap – News from the rumor mill – is a project in personal initiative of Karolin Schwarz, an ethnologist of African studies from Leipzig, Germany. Since February 8, 2016 the website hoaxmap.org is online, starting with 177 hoaxes listed. In June 2016, 400 hoaxes were recorded with origin or reference point, including evidence of inaccuracy.
Most of the false reports and rumors consist of defamation against refugees of the European migrant crisis. Schwarz receives subtle threats from the political right. Other people thanked her for clarification. The bogus usually is spread due to prejudices of the simplified view, dividing the world into good and evil, and a lack of media literacy. News and broadcasts from Australia, USA, Arabia and Germany reported about the Hoaxmap project.