Claim
On 5th June 2023, Smart Eagles and various other Facebook pages published reports claiming Sweden has declared sex as a sport and that the counbtry was set to host its first ever sex sport competition. The reports further claimed that participants would engage in sex sessions which could go up to 6 hours daily, and that the competition would start on 8th June, 2023 and it will run up to six months. The post on Smart Eagles attracted a combined total of more than 15,000 comments and reactions, and was shared close to 400 times.
Rating Justification
The viral claims about a purported “Sex Championship” in Sweden are false. In response to a query from iVerify, the Swedish Embassy in Lusaka refuted the claims and reiterated that there is no sex championship in Sweden and that sex is not recognised as a sport in the country.
Responding to iVerify, Sofia Hallqvist, the Trade, Promotion and Communication Officer (Interim) at the Swedish Embassy in Lusaka said: “This is misinformation. The Swedish Government is not part of or involved in this event and there are no official events of this kind being held in Sweden. Sex is not recognised as a sport in Sweden, and no organisation of this kind is associated with the official Swedish Sports Confederation. An organisation called the Swedish Sex Federation recently applied for membership of the Swedish Sports Confederation – an application that was denied on the basis that it did not fulfil the requirement of being a sports federation.”
The iVerify verdit on the issue is similar to the findings made by global media outlets like DW.com https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-no-sweden-is-not-holding-a-sex-championship/a-65841986, who quoted Anna Setzman, a spokesperson for the Swedish Sports Confederation, saying: “All this information is false,” , said in a written statement from Stockholm to DW. “Right now, false information is being spread in some international media about Sweden and Swedish sports,” she added. “These are vigorously denied.”
