2016 saw lots of social media hoaxes and fake news stories spread like wildfire across the realms of the Internet, so we made a video discussing some of the biggest and best hoaxes of the year gone by.
Full Transcript of Video
2016. A year full of celebrity deaths, political madness and exploding Samsung phones. With every day new day bringing unbelievable stories it was hard to separate the fact from the fiction. Here are 10 of the best social media hoaxes and internet fake new stories of the year gone by.
Number 1: Voting for Harambe. 2016 was the year everyone went slightly batshit for a gorilla. A 5 year old fell into Harambe enclosure at Cincinatti Zoo and for alleged ‘safety reasons’ was shot dead. A nation may have mourned but it didn’t stop 11,000 Americans from allegedly voting for the creature to be the new US president. Of course, it was all a load of baloney. However, for many, a dead gorilla would probably have been a much better alternative to the actual results.
Number 2: Morgan Freeman and Meryl Streep’s Love Child. Meryl Streep and Morgan Freeman. Two Hollywood heavyweights. The rumour suggests that Streep and Freeman had an extra-marital affair in the 80s and that this fling resulted in a lovechild. Cue Future. Future is a rapper who shares some facial similarities to both Streep and Freeman but as much as he’d have perhaps the greatest parents on the planet, this is nothing but Facebook rubbish.
Number 3: Lyst’s Puppy Collection. Lyst is a website which sells fashion, which is perhaps why they thought this hoax would be fitting. They were allegedly offering 33 breeds of dog in their Canine Collection, with a dog to match any outfit. The issue was they marketed these pets as ‘accessories’, putting a whole new meaning to the phrase doggy style. Although Lyst were behind the hoax it was a PR stunt that lost them a lot of customers.
Number 4: The Sky Remote. Social media went crazy for this false story. It claimed that Sky TV customers could plug an Ethernet cable into the back of their remote to activate all channels. First of all, you’d have to be pretty naïve to believe this as there is no Ethernet port on the remotes. Furthermore, Sky is a technology company that would no doubt have clocked on to this fact a lot earlier than people on the internet.
Number 5: Fisher Price Happy Hour Playset. Everyone knows that a visit to the pub is perhaps the greatest perk of adulthood and although Fisher Price are known for manufacturing plastic kitchens, cars and houses, this playset encouraging kids to drink would be a step too far. Although many people say that drunk people act much like toddlers, taking them to the pub is a bad idea. Fisher Price were quick to dispel the claims. The image of course was photoshopped.
Number 6: Dalai Lama Comedy. This was a double hit for Buddhist monk and all round nice guy the Dalai Lama. Not only was he allegedly becoming an atheist, he was quitting Buddhism to pursue a career in sitcom writing. This was in fact a false news story created by entertainment website The Good Lord Above. Of course people took this as gospel (if you pardon the pun) and the ‘news’ didmthe rounds on the internet.
Number 7: Stephen King and Stranger Things. The hit Netflix series of 2016 which saw Winona Ryder have a mental breakdown for 8 episodes has been confirmed for a second series. And who better to write the 80’s based sci-fi horror than the actual King of scare himself, Stephen King. This one story that would be great if true but it was just a case of wishful thinking. Though to be fair, stranger things have happened.
Number 8: Human-Goat Hybrid. An online news site claimed that a woman from Alabama was impregnated by a goat called Nibbles, later giving birth to a strange goat-person. Pictures of the baby were shared online but scientists quickly debunked this false story. You cannot argue with biology and this story was one that was just a bit too woolly.
Number 9: Pokemon Global Offensive. This internet rumour started almost immediately after the release of the walk-stop-catch a Pokemon app. It suggest that it is being used to map out foreign countries, so that the Japanese can use it for future warfare. Of course, it is false information. Niantic, the creators of the game, have stated that no imagery or data is actually stored anywhere, other than your smartphone.
Number 10: Rob Zombie’s Oscar Rejection. Ok so the cult horror director Rob Zombie wasn’t turned down for an actual award but fake news stories stated how Zombie was kicked out of the ceremony after being mistaken for a homeless man. Security supposedly tackled Zombie to the floor, before he spouted some Satanic nonsense. The image that complemented the story was actually a compilation of two different photos and the story was a total fabrication.
That’s all for today, thank you for watching and don’t forget to keep up to date with us on Facebook and Twitter.
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