https://futurism.com/science-energy/jonathan-tortoise-still-alive
"On Wednesday, sorrow swept through the
Futurism newsroom as we heard that
Jonathan, a 193-year-old Seychelles giant tortoise believed to be the oldest
living land animal, had passed away at his home on the island of Saint Helena,
a remote British territory in the middle of the Atlantic.
The tragic news, which was based on an X account that claimed to be the
tortoise’s owner Joe Hollins, picked up widespread media coverage, from the
BBC and
USA Today to the
Daily Mail.
But in case it wasn’t obvious enough that the Elon Musk-owned social media
platform is drowning in misinformation and scams, the claim turned out to be a
complete lie, forcing media publications to issue a tidal wave of unfortunate
corrections.
“An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Jonathan had died,
after the
BBC along with other media outlets fell for a fake social media
account,” the broadcaster wrote in a notice appended to its obituary.
According to the real Hollins, it was nothing more than a “hoax.”
“IT IS NOT TRUE,” Hollins wrote in an impassioned Facebook post, since he
doesn’t actually use X.
Worse yet, it looks more like a scam than an ill-conceived April Fools’ joke.
As the St Helena Island-based veterinarian warned, the “hoaxer is asking for
crypto donations.”
“It’s a con,” he wrote. “Please forward guys because this has spread. Even our
researcher friends in the US unraveling his DNA have just sent condolences.”
The original X account, which claimed to be Hollins, tried to strike an
emotional tone to attract cryptocurrency donations."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
