Claims that were spread across social media that an 11-year-old German student, who already graduated from high school, was actually from Afghanistan have turned out to be false.
The claims received millions of views on social media, with a number of influencers stating that the girl, Lina Heider, was actually from Afghanistan. These influencers claimed that out of racism and envy, her origins were concealed.
Now, a report from German public news, ZDF Heute, shows that these influencers were spreading false information.
The young girl graduated from high school in the German city of Bonn, but when the story broke in German media, claims started circulating on Instagram and other platforms that the German media was keeping her true origins a secret.
ZDF notes that it spoke with the parents and there is no truth to the claims that she is from Afghanistan. Her family has no refugee background, and Heider was born in Germany. They asked for the family’s privacy to be respected.
It is unclear how the rumor first spread, but Islam influencer Tarek Baé, who has approximately 400,000 followers, certainly helped popularize the theory.
ZDF reports that on July 6, he published an Instagram post where he stated: “Her parents fled from Afghanistan to Germany. No media outlet mentions this.”
The post generated 50,000 likes, and afterwards, numerous channels began sharing similar claims. The news then spread to an international audience, wtih English-language channels dedicated to Afghanistan reporting on the news, helping spread the information to hundreds of thousands of more people outside of Germany. The accounts celebrated the belief that the girl was Afghan and criticized the German media.
After ZDF contacted Baé, he did not answer, but adjusted the description of the post. It now reads “Correction: The parents did not flee Afghanistan. I apologized to the family for re-posting this post.”
However, the post remains up. Other outlets that reported on the girl being from Afghanistan have not corrected their posts. The account “SOS Balkan Route” had written: “The European media shouts the name Afghanistan whenever an Afghan makes a mistake. But when an Afghan girl like this one graduates from high school at 11, they don’t even mention her country of origin.”
In fact, TikTok is full of posts from the Muslim and Afghan community mocking Germans for hiding the girl’s “true background.”
@yunuspeace_ #abitur #afghanistan #schule #rekord #dielinke #afd ♬ home – .diedlonely & Jay Karin
Under the original ZDF post covering the girl’s graduation, which received over 2 million views, many negative comments are present.
As ZDF notes, they include: “Lina Heider is a Hazara girl from Afghanistan!”
Another one reads: “If there are negative headlines or agitation against migrants, you from public broadcasting don’t hesitate to point out the origin.”
One user stated: “Sure, you can’t stir up hatred with that…because the German media bursts with envy when they find out that a foreigner is better than them.”
