Satire report on Paris Olympics opening ceremony misleads online

"Paris Now Has the Lowest-Rated Olympic Games in Modern History: 'People Want Sports, Not Blasphemy," read a graphic shared by a Facebook page in the Catholic-majority Philippines on August 1. 

"The stands are half-empty, and the ratings are in the toilet," the post -- shared more than 300 times -- claimed.

"The IOC says the games will lose more than $300 million over the blasphemous opening they allowed to happen," it added, citing "American Buzzline" as the source.

As of August 8, 2024, there have been no official reports that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) predicts the Paris Olympics will lose $300 million.

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Screenshot of the false post taken August 7, 2024

Similar false claims were also shared in other Facebook posts here, here, here and here.

Officials opened the Olympics on July 26 with an unprecedented parade on the Seine that gave prominence to women and LGBTQ performers, drawing conservative criticism and fuelling misinformation online. 

A live portrait featuring dancers, drag queens, and a DJ that some argued resembled the Last Supper was met with condemnation from some Catholic groups and French bishops, who saw it as "scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity."

Artistic director Thomas Jolly denied drawing inspiration from Christian iconography, while Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters on July 28: "Clearly, there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group."

Some comments from social media users on the false social media posts suggested users believed the Paris Olympics were the "lowest-rated" in history. 

"God will not forgive those who mock him," one user said.

"SOOO SAAAAD!!!!! THE GREATEST DAMAGE IS DONE … CAN’T BE UNDONE!!!!!!" another commented.

But the claim originated from a satirical article.

Not a genuine report

Keyword searches on Facebook found that the page cited in the caption posted the same graphic on July 31, 2024.

A review of the American Buzzline, which describes itself as a "Fan Page" and not a genuine news source, found it has regularly posted satirical content. 

The claim has also been debunked by US fact-checking organisation Snopes, which identified the now-defunct satire page America's Last Line of Defense as the origin of the posts (archived link).

The page was part of a network of parody websites run by former political blogger Christopher Blair.

Articles on Blair's sites make outrageous claims written as fact, albeit with clear indications they are not real, but are still shared by people who apparently believe they are true.

He told AFP in 2020 that "confirmation bias" leads people to believe and share the articles.

A disclaimer on Latherland.com, one of the network's websites, says: "Everything on this page is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe it is real you should have your head examined."

The false posts did not specify a source for how previous Olympic Games were purportedly ranked.

NBC Universal reported an average of 34.5 million viewers on its platforms over three days since the Games' opening ceremony, across both live Paris and US primetime periods (archived link). 

It said this was a 79 percent increase from the 19.3 million viewers for the Tokyo Games.

AFP has previously fact-checked misinformation around the Paris Olympics.