“Big congratulations to little Fredrik who turns 8. Greetings, Grandma June and Grandpa Nils.”
This is how a birthday greeting that was recently printed in Fredriksstad Blad reads.
A similar congratulation has also been published in the local newspaper Tysvær Bygdeblad:
Round trick of infidelity-congratulations
“Jakob Aultun Dinger turns 5 on March 7! Happy Birthday. We are very happy for you, greetings Sam and Hermione”.
As you have probably already realised: Some people have had fun here. Because the boy in the picture is neither Fredrik nor Jakob, but the 19-year-old influencer Hasbulla Magomedov from Dagestan, one of Russia’s republics.
Magomedov has taken the world by storm and has recently become a big talking point in social media, where he goes by the name “Mini Khabib”.
HURRY: This congratulation was printed in Tysvær Bygdeblad last week. Photo: Screenshot
sea view
– Will be removed
When Dagbladet calls Fredriksstad Blad’s editor-in-chief René Svendsen, he is not aware that the birthday greeting is not genuine.
– We didn’t know this. We have good routines, but if we are to do something about this problem, we will have to contact everyone who sends in birthday greetings, and then we may have to consider discontinuing the entire offer. Ultimately, we must discontinue this type of content, he says to Dagbladet.
INTERNET CELEBRITY: Hasbulla Magomedov has become big in social media, and has now also appeared in several Norwegian local newspapers. Photo: Screenshot Instagram
sea view
Svendsen refers to a similar advertisement that was placed in Budstikka in January. It turned out to be 14-year-old Veslemøy who was behind the greeting where a 39-year-old man was apparently congratulated on the day.
– This is not a new phenomenon. This illustrates once again the challenges we face when it comes to user-generated content, continues Svendsen, who assures that the congratulations will now be removed from the newspaper’s website.
Svendsen has also been in contact with the owner of the subscription by whom the advertisement was placed, who did not know about the congratulations.
– We were deceived
Editor Alf-Einar Kvalavåg in Tysvær Bygdeblad says that the newspaper was made aware of the false congratulation on the same day it was printed on Thursday last week.
– It was removed online immediately, but with paper it is more difficult. Someone called and reported it after a short time, says Kvalavåg, who says that the advertisement must have been sent to between 50 and 100 Norwegian newspapers.
He continues:
– Fortunately, this rarely happens. I can’t remember the last time. The person who posted the ad even responded to the photo, but this time we were tricked. It’s crazy.
The editor explains that they have a small editorial office with few resources:
Chaos pictures: – A nightmare
– We have around 4-5 such advertisements in print a week, and have some control, but it is difficult to control all the content that comes in, he explains.
– Do you know who is behind it?
– The advertisement was sent from a regular e-mail which we have investigated, but we have not been able to get in touch with the sender, concludes Kvalavåg.
