Fact Check: Satire about mosque bid at British beauty spot taken seriously online
Satire published on the eve of April Fool's Day about a bid to try and get a large mosque built in England's Peak District National Park is being taken seriously online.
Social media posts shared a TikTok video, opens new tab of a man saying the 'Peak District City Council' had allowed him to launch a petition to get the structure built at the Mam Tor beauty spot, the largest of a small group of ancient hillforts.
He added if 10,000 people signed the petition, he'd be granted permission to fundraise and build the 1 million pound ($1.3 million) mosque.
'£1 million mega mosque on top of Mam Tor in the Peak District,' said one April 4 post on Facebook, opens new tab. 'The takeover continues. When will it stop?'
A similar post on X, opens new tab received more than 389,000 views.
However, a spokesperson for the Peak District National Park Authority, which is the planning authority, opens new tab for the park, said neither it nor the National Trust, which looks after the beauty spot, opens new tab, were aware of plans for a mosque or any permanent structure at Mam Tor or nearby.
'Nor is either organisation in any form of dialogue with a party or parties behind petitions or other similar activities,' said the spokesperson. 'No applications have been received, been advised upon or approved for such a structure at Mam Tor.'
The spokesperson added there was no such organisation as 'Peak District City Council', as claimed in the TikTok video.
A spokesperson for the National Trust, responding to the claim, said it had not received any petitions or correspondence.
The landscape visible in the image is not Mam Tor, added the spokesperson.
Reuters searched for 'mosque' on the Peak District National Park Authority's online planning portal, but no results were returned.
The TikTok post was made on March 31, a day before April Fool's Day. March 31 was also the date of the first comment, opens new tab on the petition, suggesting it was launched on or around the same day. The petition, opens new tab had received 107 signatures at the time of writing.
The Peak District claim comes after Reuters found social media posts that drew comparisons between planning decisions for a new mosque in Cumbria and a restaurant on the farm of television personality Jeremy Clarkson were missing context.
VERDICT
Satire. The Peak District National Park Authority said it had not been in contact with anyone about a petition or plans for a mosque on Mam Tor. The petition was launched shortly before April Fool's Day.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.
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