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Sharing isn’t always caring on Facebook

Will sharing this photo help this boy receive a free heart transplant? Absolutely not. 

Photo of Kevin Collier

Kevin Collier

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Every day, the Daily Dot finds something that people on Facebook are sharing and, in turn, share it with you—with a little explanation. Here’s today’s share.

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There’s a fine line on Facebook between being kind-hearted and gullible.

“if this boy gets 100 shares he can get his heart transplant for free,” reads the caption under a depressing photo of a child in a medical bed, hooked up with a respirator, covered in medical tape.

Though this photo was submitted in November, it’s still being passed around, and today hit 30,000 shares.

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There is, of course, no truth to the idea that 100 shares would somehow grant him a free transplant.

At least an earlier version of the same photo had a caption that hinted at context. It claimed heart surgery was free for children under 10 at a certain hospital in Bangalore, India. It provided a phone number, which, according to Snopes, belonged to a real children’s hospital that provides free care.

In real life, however, the boy in the photo doesn’t have much of a chance of going there. He’s Ukrainian, and the photo is actually of him recovering from a successful surgery in Odessa more than three years ago.

But it’s the thought that counts, right?

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Photo from Facebook

 
The Daily Dot