A message about Sweden officially recognising sex as a sports is going viral on social media.
The claim also states that the first-ever sex competition named 'European Sex Championship' will be held in the country by Swedish Sex Federation.
It further lists down rules and regulations of the competition.
Who shared it?: Several social media users shared it along with a verified account on Twitter, The Tatva, ring-wing propaganda website, Op India and media outlets like Zee News Madhya Pradesh, Zee News Kannad, Zee News Bengali and News18.
Other media outlets like Times of India, Hindustan Times, and India Today had also shared the claim, however, they later deleted it or edited it to say that this information is not verified.
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/screenshot)
An archive can be seen here.
(Source: News18/screenshot)
How did we find out the truth?: We checked the official website of the Swedish Sports Confederation (Riksidrottsförbundet) and found no official notice about the viral sex competition.
With a relevant keyword search, we came across report published by a Swedish news outlet, Goterborgs-Posten, which was shared on 26 April.
The report stated that competing in sex was not recognised as part of the National Sports Confederation.
It further added that the Swedish Sex Federation's application to get sex classified as a sport was rejected because it was incomplete.
No other European news outlets had covered the news about the alleged 'sex competition' happening in June.
We reached out to Swedish Sports Confederation: The Confederation clarified to The Quint that Sex Federation is not a member of the Swedish Sports Confederation, as claimed.
Anna Setzman, Head of Communication and Press from Swedish Sports Confederation, dismissed the claims and said, "The Swedish Sports Confederation has drawn attention to the fact that in some parts of the international media news is currently being spread that a Sex federation should be a member of Swedish Sports Confederation. It is false information with the aim of smearing Swedish sports and Sweden."
We also reached out to a local reporters: A Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter's fact editor Hugo Ewald Hurinsky also said that the claim is false.
Another reporter, Åsa Larsson, Founder of a Swedish news outlet, Källkritikbyrån also dismissed the claim about Sweden accepting sex as a sport.
Swedish Sex Federation's website: We found a website for this group, however, we are refraining from adding the link as it didn't seem trusted.
The website carried another link along with a message that said they are hosting a 'championship' for sex in Sweden on 8 June.
The website's 'About us' section claims that the group is 'organized, accepted and approved by Swedish authorities', without mentioning the specifics.
Conclusion: Sweden has not declared sex as a sport and it's sports confederation is not associated with the 'Swedish Sex Federation' for conducting 'sex competitions'.
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