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Back in 2012, this photo of a US man “winning” $588 million went viral on Facebook. Why? Oh, he promised to give one lucky person who shared it a cool $1m.
As the caption read: “Looks like I won’t be going to work EVER!!!! Share this photo and I will give a random person 1 million dollars!”
Constantly cropping up on Facebook over the last number of years, the actual year they travel to in Back to the Future is 2015. Thanks to Photoshop, the image was often manipulated to whatever date suited and shared with “today is the day!” style posts. This one will surely never return after this October though.
9. The Fukushima whale disaster
In the aftermath of the Japanese nuclear disaster in 2011, many stories started circulating on Facebook that were complete fabrications. This whale one was the biggest.
With these ones, there are no fake news stories – just a fake R.I.P group set up that implies that a celebrity is now dead. They can often get massive and make people super confused.
We’ve debunked this one recently, but variations of it have been popping up on Facebook for years. To repeat: Facebook doesn’t try to claim copyright over the things you post. Instead, you give the company permission to ”use, distribute, and share the things you post, subject to the terms and applicable privacy settings.”
Friday 15 November, 2024
Friday 15 November, 2024
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11 of the biggest Facebook hoaxes people have fallen for
GIVEN THAT FACEBOOK has announced that it will crack down on hoaxes on its site, here’s a look back on some of the biggest ones to date.
1. Celebrity “deaths” are common
Just the 6010k Facebook shares there, nothing major. The Macauley Culkin hoax went massive on Facebook in November 2014.
2. Anything universe-related seems to go big
No matter how physically impossible something is, an altered screen shot of Nasa’s Twitter feed can still reel in the believers.
3. The Lottery Deception
Back in 2012, this photo of a US man “winning” $588 million went viral on Facebook. Why? Oh, he promised to give one lucky person who shared it a cool $1m.
As the caption read: “Looks like I won’t be going to work EVER!!!! Share this photo and I will give a random person 1 million dollars!”
No. Not real.
4. People go mad for Facebook-related hoaxes
Meta.
5. And then there is this old favourite
Again, the “news” that Facebook are going to start charging for its services pops up regularly – and it’s never real.
6. The Ryan Gosling adoption fraud
Almost one million people gave this post a like back in 2014.
7. The Amy Winehouse tape
Back in 2011, this link went super viral on Facebook.
8. The Back to the Future lie
Constantly cropping up on Facebook over the last number of years, the actual year they travel to in Back to the Future is 2015. Thanks to Photoshop, the image was often manipulated to whatever date suited and shared with “today is the day!” style posts. This one will surely never return after this October though.
9. The Fukushima whale disaster
In the aftermath of the Japanese nuclear disaster in 2011, many stories started circulating on Facebook that were complete fabrications. This whale one was the biggest.
10. The R.I.P Groups
With these ones, there are no fake news stories – just a fake R.I.P group set up that implies that a celebrity is now dead. They can often get massive and make people super confused.
11. The Facebook Copyright con
We’ve debunked this one recently, but variations of it have been popping up on Facebook for years. To repeat: Facebook doesn’t try to claim copyright over the things you post. Instead, you give the company permission to ”use, distribute, and share the things you post, subject to the terms and applicable privacy settings.”
More Good news: Facebook is going to start removing fake news stories from your news feed>
More It’s official: Your Facebook feed knows you better than your family>
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Facebook hoaxes Incredible say goodbye