Media contributions
1Media contributions
Title Misleading fuel countdown posts stoke alarm in Australia Degree of recognition National Media name/outlet RTL Media type Web Duration/Length/Size 5 min read Country/Territory Luxembourg Date 20/04/26 Description This AFP fact-check examines social media claims that Australia's petrol stocks were falling considerably faster than government figures indicated, based on screenshots from a scenario-modelling website displaying a fuel countdown clock. The verification establishes that the most alarming figures resulted from a server disruption subsequently corrected by the site's owner, who acknowledged the screenshots could cause undue alarm while noting that the site is documented as a modelling tool combining official data with live vessel tracking, retail prices and station outage information, and that it publishes its own limitations. Dr Lurion De Mello assesses the tool as properly read as an indicator of supply stress rather than a literal depletion countdown, notes that incorporating shipping data without cargo confirmation can inflate or distort estimates, and observes that presenting modelled figures in red against official figures in grey implies governmental error — a framing capable of displacing official reporting in public perception and generating panic. Swinburne University's Hussein Dia separately notes that the model omits adaptive supply dynamics, including reprioritised distribution, demand management and alternative shipments. The piece is set against the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Australia's import dependence, and official stock figures reported through early and mid-April. Producer/Author AFP URL https://today.rtl.lu/news/fact-check/misleading-fuel-countdown-posts-stoke-alarm-in-australia-38984618 Persons Lurion De Mello