In 2018, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States conducted a study and found that fake news travels to Twitter users 6 times faster than real news. The popularity of Whatsapp has also contributed to spreading fake news. When someone tells us some facts that are not true at all, we jokingly ask that person whether you got this news from Whatsapp university. Yesterday also the same thing happened. A headline was dominating the social media and different blogs that stated that “Microsoft has acquired Sony”.
Acquisition of that level without any prior indication raised the eyebrows of a few. Sony is a business giant and also a rival of Microsoft that makes the news unbelievable. It all started on 28 December. A Spanish portal article was shared by a website ‘Microsofters’ and then users shared its English version with EN24 news on social media. But the Next Big Brand team did detailed research about the topic and found that it is a piece of fake news.
In a detailed article, the Spanish website stated that the deal was valued at $130 billion. To make it trustworthy, they included so many points. The article included Phil Spencer’s statement who is executive vice president of gaming at Microsoft and he is also the head of the Xbox brand. His idea of strengthening the Xbox with additional new features of Sony, like the powerful camera of Sony, was articulated very well to make the claim believable. The article also stated that this deal will help Microsoft to make its strong presence in Japan where Microsoft has limited operations because of Sony’s popularity. The article also called it Microsoft return to the entertainment segment by acquiring Sony pictures and music. Same way, other small details were also taken care of to make it 100% legitimate.
Our fact-checking team found that in Spanish culture, 28 December is celebrated like April Fool’s day. On this day, different kinds of pranks, practical jokes, and other activities are carried out to deceive the people.
This news was only shared by a handful of blogs. If it was real news then easily it had a caliber to become the talk of the town. After such a big deal, there was no official announcement or statement from Microsoft/Sony. Even some news portals like exchange4Media who published this story in a hurry deleted it very soon.
