Following the 2016 US presidential elections, the term ‘fake news’ spiked on Google Search, across the world.
Click start to play today’s Crossword, where you can spot a rumour in 3-Down.
There was so much misinformation in the following years, and debate over which bits of data were true and which weren’t, that the social media network Facebook (now Meta) even prompted users in 14 countries to read a guide on the phenomenon, with tips on how to check sources.
But dealing with fake news isn’t a new experience. As the French say, 'plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose', or the more things change, the more they remain the same. History is testament to episodes where fake news caused panic and mayhem. Here are a few incidents worth noting:
1. Soaring stocks
In May 1803, as Britain was getting ready to end the Treaty of Amiens and declare war on its longtime rival, France, the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Charles Price, received a letter. It was supposedly written by Lord Hawkesbury, a British statesman, and was sealed with his personal seal – the letter stated that the dispute with the French had been amicably settled. Overjoyed, the mayor took the letter to the Stock Exchange to share the news, and in a matter of hours, stocks rose by five per cent. When they eventually learned that the letter was forged, the Treasury alerted London’s evening papers – but it was too late, by then. Several stocks had changed hands at inflated rates and investigations were launched as to who might have gained the most from the fraudulent letter. The perpetrator of the hoax, however, was never found.
2. Life on the moon
On August 21, 1835, a US-based newspaper called The New York Sun published a series of stories falsely attributed to renowned astronomer Sir John Herschel. The articles explained how Herschel discovered life on the moon, using new ‘hydro-oxygen magnifiers’. The newspaper liberally used scientific terms to describe the bizarre life forms he supposedly discovered, and wrote: “Of animals, he classified nine species of mammalia, and five of ovipara. Among the former is a small kind of rein-deer, the elk, the moose, the horned bear, and the biped beaver. The last resembles the beaver of the earth in every other respect than in its destitution of a tail, and its invariable habit of walking upon only two feet. It carries its young in its arms like a human being, and moves with an easy gliding motion.” The story worked. The newspaper achieved its goal of adding several new subscribers to its roster that month. A couple of weeks later, it quietly announced the story was a hoax.
3. Mark Twain, dead?
In June 1897, several reports about American author Mark Twain ‘dying in poverty in London’, were making the rounds. However, when the New York Journal finally reached out to the author for a comment, he told the reporter he did not know whether to be amused or annoyed. Twain’s cousin, James Ross Clemens of St. Louis, was the one who had been ill in London, although he, too, had recovered. Ever full of wit, Twain was reported to have told the New York Journal: “The report of my death was an exaggeration. The report of my poverty is harder to deal with.”
Did you ever unwittingly believe fake news? Play today’s Crossword and tell us at games@gulfnews.com.
