The Hoax That Fooled (Almost) Everyone. Even Snopes.

The hottest hoax to hit the internet in recent months seemed to be just another internet death hoax, but this time almost everyone was fooled. Even Snopes.

Macaulay Culkin Death Hoax

When the Macaulay Culkin death rumors began to swirl over the weekend, those in the media – including online hoax debunking websites – began their earnest search for the source of the hoax. While we (and others) determined the source of this death hoax outbreak to be a website with the URL “msnbc.website,” some writers were fooled by a fake death hoax article which has existed for years, published by the fake news generator Mediamass.

A few respected writers cited this old (and fictitious) article, and put their faulty research into print. They were then sourced and cited by other writers who didn’t delve into the story beyond that.

And so began a convoluted domino effect – a hoax that fooled major media, even the original myth-busting site Snopes.

Mediamass

Mediamass is a fake news generator which has existed for several years. The website has a “death hoax” article for virtually every major celebrity – which reads essentially the same as the Culkin death hoax – and is completely fictional. Every “death hoax” post on Mediamass claims that a celebrity’s death hoax began with a fake Facebook page that was quickly removed.

Although these Mediamass “death hoax” articles are fake, even respected writers have run across them, and – unaware of Mediamass’ nature – have cited the information in the article without actually sourcing Mediamass. Other writers then cited this trusted source, and the hoax exploded.

That appears to be the case with the Macaulay Culkin death hoax. And even Snopes appears to have fallen prey to Mediamass.

Fake Facebook Page?

Snopes Fooled

In its debunking of the Macaualy Culkin death hoax, Snopes began by stating, “That rumor was based on a Facebook hoax memorial page set up for the star:” and includes an alleged quote from the fake Facebook page.

At about 11 a.m. ET on Thursday (November 06, 2014), our beloved actor Macaulay Culkin passed away.

Macaulay Culkin was born on August 26, 1980 in New York. He will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting on and liking this page.

There was, however, no such Facebook page. This information originated from Mediamass.

This time, even Snopes was fooled.

The idea of a death hoax stemming from a fake Facebook page is part of the Mediamass article – an article which has existed for months, or even years, for virtually every major celebrity.

And it simply isn’t true.

A cursory search of the Nicolas Cage “death hoax” article on Mediamass, for example, yields the same text:

Rumors of the actor’s alleged demise gained traction on Friday after a ‘R.I.P. Nicolas Cage’ Facebook page attracted nearly one million of ‘likes’. Those who read the ‘About’ page were given a believable account of the American actor’s passing:

“At about 11 a.m. ET on Friday (November 07, 2014), our beloved actor Nicolas Cage passed away. Nicolas Cage was born on January 7, 1964 in Long Beach. He will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting on and liking this page.”

We included a screen shot of that Cage article in our 2013 post about Mediamass. Same with Hillary Clinton. And Jim Carrey…

Just as there was no such Facebook page which began a death hoax for Cage, Clinton, or Carrey, there was also no such Facebook page for Culkin.

And to give credit where credit it due, it was the keen eye of a single Twitter user who pointed out the Snopes mistake.

@wafflesatnoon Snopes was fooled too? http://t.co/Virt7LvXyA “At about 11 a.m…” is the same text as Mediamass’.

— ??????bot (@ottwo) November 9, 2014

 Mirror UK Fooled

It wasn’t just Snopes duped by the story of a fake Facebook page spawning the Culkin hoax. Many other media outlets ran with the sketchy details, not really delving into the source of this alleged Facebook page. The Mirror highlighted the non-existent fake Facebook page in its coverage of the Culkin hoax.

The rumour seems to have originated online with a mock tribute page making the rounds on Facebook for people to show their respect.

ET Online Fooled

Entertainment Tonight sourced The Mirror, and included the same Mediamass quote cited by Snopes and others.

April 2014 “Source”

For the November 2014 death hoax, many news accounts stated that there was allegedly a death hoax for Culkin back in April 2014. It would appear, however, that this claim originates from an article posted by Travelers Today. And what sources did Travelers Today cite as its source?

Mediamass.

In the original version of our Culkin death hoax story, we correctly cited the “msnbc.website” article as the source, and sidestepped the “fake Facebook” Mediamass angle. We did, however, mention that there had been a death hoax in April, but upon further investigation it is unclear if there was actually a death hoax for Culkin at that time, or if Travelers Today simply ran across the Mediamass article, covered it, and the rest of the internet just took their word for it.

OK, not everyone

To be fair, not all media outlets fell for the fake Mediamass story. The Hollywood Reporter, for example, simply contacted Culkin’s reps and dismissed the rumor (although they, too, cited the ambiguous April 2014 hoax), without even delving into the source of the hoax.

Bottom Line

The Macaulay Culkin death hoax highlights the depth at which fake news has encroached upon real news. And even the most trusted sources can still be fooled if they aren’t diligent enough in checking their sources’ sources.

While reports of Culkin’s death were a hoax, there was no fake Facebook page called RIP Macaulay Culkin which began it all. Some sources correctly cited the “msnbc.website” origin of the hoax, while others – even myth-busting site Snopes – cited (or used information from) Mediamass, which posted a fictional Culkin death hoax article several years ago.

The score after this round of the hoax wars: Mediamass, 1. The rest of the world, 0.