The detailed story had the PM giving detailed answers to 15 questions posed by the freelance reporter - but the interview never happened.

An Indian news outlet published an interview with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) on Sunday – and it was totally fake.

The story was reported by Journalisti lehti magazine and shows how the interviewer posed 15 questions, for which the PM apparently gave detailed answers – including describing India as having great potential.

The story, published online on Sunday by DB Post (but now removed) was apparently submitted by a freelancer who gave false paperwork as proof the interview took place.

The Prime Minister’s office says that despite the publication’s claim their journalist came to Helsinki “and met Marin for an exclusive chat” the interview simply never took place.

Media outlets love fake news about the PM

It’s not the first time there’s been fake news about Finland’s new prime minister, in fact she’s attracted a lot of it since taking office at the end of last year.

In December a popular picture circulated on social media in India claiming to show four of the five female government leaders.

However it wasn’t a picture of Marin, Katri Kulmuni (Centre), Li Andersson (Left) and Maria Ohisalo (Green) but four young Nepalese Instagram influencers instead.

Even Finland’s Ambassador to India had to share a tweet disproving the photograph.

Then in January another fake news story about the Finnish government went viral, after hundreds – possibly thousands – of media outlets ran stories that Marin had proposed a new 6-hour working day and a 4-day working week.

News Now Finland tracked the origins of this story to thoroughly debunk the story, and while many news outlets did retract or amend their stories, the misleading information is still easy to find online.

You might also be interested in: