- The government plans to fine up to 500,000 euros or even three years in jail for those who heat their homes above 19 degrees.
 |
| Comparison of the image of the alleged campaign with the search results in image banks. / Maldita |
No, Switzerland has not launched a campaign for citizens to denounce their neighbors if they put the heating above 19 degrees
An alleged poster from the Swiss authorities has gone viral that reads the following: “Does the neighbor heat the apartment to more than 19 degrees? Please inform us.” The message, written in German, appears with the logo of the Swiss Confederation. Through the Maldita.es WhatsApp chatbot (+34 644 229 319), you have asked us about this image, but it is a hoax.
The photo circulates alongside messages stating that "Switzerland declares the Cold War on its citizens" given that "the government plans to fine up to 500,000 euros or even three years in jail for those who heat their homes above 19 degrees." Supposedly, the anonymous citizen who reported his neighbor would win a reward of 200 Swiss francs.
However, the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy, and Communications (DETEC) of Switzerland, whose telephone number appears on the aforementioned poster, assures Maldita.es that "the Confederation has nothing to do with this call."
 |
| The alleged Swiss campaign is a hoax. / Maldita |
Simone Hug, the communication specialist at DETEC, points out that “the Confederation's logo and telephone number in the image have been misused. There are no such posters of the Confederation or corresponding calls, obviously it is a case of manipulation”, and assures that they have already launched an investigation “on this misuse”.
The virtualization of this supposed poster comes after the Swiss Federal Office of Energy announced on August 31 the campaign “Energy is scarce. Let's not waste them", encouraging to reduce energy "waste". Within the framework of this campaign, the Confederation compiles a series of recommendations for both private households and companies, but on the website, there is no reference to the supposed campaign broadcast on networks.
In fact, with a reverse search of the image, the first thing we observe is that the image used as the background for the supposed poster, in which a woman calling by phone appears, has been published in various image banks since at least 2021.
Also through reverse search, we discovered other publications that are not related to the content of the alleged poster, but that use the same background.
 |
| Comparison of the image of the supposed campaign with others that use the same background. / Maldita |
Tags:
World