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In recent weeks, the Greek news media landscape has been filled (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) with reports of a disturbing trend supposedly sweeping TikTok.

They call it "Sex Roulette" and supposedly encourages teenagers to have unprotected sex, usually with complete strangers. The goal of the challenge is to avoid becoming pregnant or contracting a sexually transmitted disease.

This news gained such massive attention that it even prompted the police department's psychologist to weigh in on the issue.

Thankfully, “Sex Roulette” isn't an actual TikTok trend/challenge and a simple search on the app makes that pretty clear.  

This story first started making the rounds almost a decade ago when a doctor from Barcelona, Spain claimed that a gay man told him an anecdotal story about alleged "sex roulette" parties where one participant may have HIV and not disclose it.

A few months later, even more rumors were added to this news story, with some sites claiming that a Serbian exotic dancer alleged that this practice was started by wealthy elites in the Balkans.

And while recently a 14-year-old girl in Italy got pregnant and allegedly claimed it was because of a form of "Sex Roulette," that doesn't necessarily mean that "Sex Roulette" is an actual trend or challenge that many teens are partaking in. It's possible that the girl was misinformed the same way news outlets have been, or influenced by the rumors that pop up every now and then.  

One's claim alone is not sufficient evidence to prove the existence of such a trend, or any trend for that matter. For a news story to be considered credible, it should be based on multiple, reliable sources and verified facts, not just unconfirmed anecdotes.

Note that I found all the above information in less than seven minutes. 

Sadly, this isn't the first time Greek journalists have failed to properly fact-check the stories they air. 

One of the most infamous examples involved a Greek news channel erroneously depicting beloved video game developer Hideo Kojima as the assassin who killed Japan's former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. 

In 2019, the same channel featured a Facebook group called, Λάνθιμος Χούλιγκανς, (Lanthimos Hooligans) and aired their statements about the upcoming Oscars and Lanthimos’ nomination. The group representative said that they were fanatic followers of the director and then went on to explain how they were planning to get inside the Kodak Theater to ensure that Lanthimos would sweep all the awards. 

The channel was aware beforehand that the page was satirical; however, they didn't clarify the humorous nature of the page. 

And last year, a Greek journalist claimed that he interviewed the robot "Sophia" for his show. But, it turned out the interview was actually conducted on the Astronio YouTube channel with astrophysicist Pavlos Kastanas and Andriana Manetta, a Hanson Robotics representative. 

When confronted, the journalist stated that the interview's rights belonged to Astronio, but he failed to explain why he removed those involved and why it was edited to mislead viewers into thinking he had conducted the interview himself.

To make matters even worse, Greece's media landscape is heavily influenced by political affiliations, often leading to biased reporting that prioritizes party interests over public access to accurate information. This creates an environment where misinformation may be overlooked or even promoted if it serves political agendas.

Recent analysis has shown that media outlets that criticized the government often received disproportionately lower advertising revenue compared to government-friendly media, despite having higher circulation and readership.

Out of 1,232 media outlets that did receive financial aid, more than 200 of them are not even listed in the country’s Online Media Register, while some of them are defunct websites and obscure blogs with zero traffic.

The deconstruction of Greek press freedom doesn't end here. 

Journalists are plagued by various intimidation tactics. There have been instances of journalists facing death contracts, being targeted by Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP), and most disturbingly, the assassination of seasoned crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz, which still goes unpunished.

Considering these issues, it's no surprise that Greece ranks 107th out of 180 countries in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), placing it last among European Union member states. 
An independent and transparent media is the cornerstone of any democratic society. It pains me to see my homeland, the land that birthed democracy, betray the very ideals she introduced to the world.

I wish I could end this on a positive note, but living in Greece has taught me that being optimistic for the future is pretty challenging.

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