Fake News: Scottish Drinkers Can STILL Buy Frosty Jack's Without Bitcoin

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Scottish Drinkers Can STILL Buy Frosty Jack's Without Bitcoin

Can you only buy Frosty Jack's cider with Bitcoin in Scotland from now on? No, that's not true. The fake story originated in a bit of satire lampooning recent measures taken in Scotland to curb problem drinking. It is not real.

The Bitcoin hoas originated from an article published on May 2, 2018 by The Daily Mash titled "Scottish drinkers can now only buy Frosty Jack's with Bitcoin" (archived here) which opened:

IF YOU want to buy a bottle of Frosty Jack's cider in Scotland you can now only pay for it using Bitcoin, it has been confirmed.

A Scottish government spokesman said: "We've never used Bitcoin but it sounds really complicated, so it's a great way to deter problem drinkers. You're not going to download a special browser or whatever just to get leathered.

"Actually you might do, it depends how determined you are I suppose."

Sottish cider lovers may have gotten worried when they saw the fake announcement on social media:

Scottish drinkers can now only buy Frosty Jack's with Bitcoin

IF YOU want to buy a bottle of Frosty Jack's cider in Scotland you can now only pay for it with Bitcoin, it has been confirmed.

Especially given that it came hot on the heels of the (real) announcement of a minimum alcohol price:

Scotland becomes first country to set minimum alcohol price

It is the first country in the world to implement such a law, with the Scottish government believing its introduction will save lives. The new legislation sets a 50 pence (approximately 70 cents) minimum price per unit of alcohol.

But The Daily Mash is a satirical website from the U.K. which sports following disclaimer on its about page:

About the Daily Mash

The Daily Mash is a satirical website which publishes spoof articles, i.e. it is all made-up and is not intended, in any way whatsoever, to be taken as factual. Glad we've got that sorted.

Their articles are generally quite funny but now and then they get interpreted as real news.

We wrote about thedailymash.co.uk before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:

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  Maarten Schenk

Maarten Schenk is the co-founder and COO/CTO of Lead Stories and an expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

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