More than 150 Facebook pages are currently spreading false claims that well-known Swedish personalities have died- including the singer Malena Ernman, mother of climate activist Greta Thunberg.
That is the conclusion of a new investigation by NORDIS partner Källkritikbyrån, which has mapped a coordinated network of pages publishing fabricated “death announcements” designed to generate engagement and advertising revenue.
One of the posts claims:
The message is accompanied by a memorial-style image showing Thunberg sitting with her mother, together with a “Rest in peace” caption. However, the claim is entirely false: Malena Ernman is alive.
According to Källkritikbyrån, the post appeared on the Facebook page Civic Monitor on 5 March 2026. The page is part of a wider network that publishes sensational claims about celebrities in order to attract clicks.
Another page in the same network, Climate Wake Up, shared the same false claim shortly afterwards. Both pages direct users to external websites where readers are encouraged to “read more”.
Källkritikbyrån’s investigation shows that the two websites are nearly identical in design and were renamed within days of each other in January 2026. Facebook transparency data indicates that administrators behind the pages are based in Vietnam.
Further searches conducted by the fact-checkers identified at least 150 Facebook pages publishing identical death hoaxes in early March. The pages target fans of specific celebrities, sports teams or cultural interests in order to build an audience before posting sensational misinformation.
Some of the claims concern real public figures, while others refer to completely fictional celebrities. In one example, a page falsely announced the death of “Lars Ulvaeus”, described as the son of ABBA members Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus – even though such a person does not exist.
The apparent strategy is to build large follower bases around popular interests and then exploit those audiences for advertising revenue. Each click to the linked external websites generates income for the operators behind the pages.
So-called “death hoaxes” are not new on social media. Fact-checking organisations have documented similar scams for many years, though the use of AI-generated images and text has made the tactic easier to scale.
Källkritikbyrån has contacted Meta, the owner of Facebook, for comment about the network and its activities.
The investigation highlights how coordinated clickbait operations continue to exploit social media platforms by spreading false claims about well-known individuals in order to generate traffic and profit.
Read the whole fact-check on Källkritikbyråns website here.