Home»National & World News»Twitter hoaxer raises alarm with false report of Benedict XVI’s passing

Twitter hoaxer raises alarm with false report of Benedict XVI’s passing

0
Shares
Pinterest WhatsApp

A bogus Twitter account using the name of Georg Bätzing, the head of the German Bishops’ Conference, tweeted a false report Monday that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had died.

The account, using the handle @BischofBatzing, was later removed. Before disappearing, the same account posted that the false report on the passing of the still-living 95-year-old retired pope was the work of infamous Italian Twitter hoaxer Tommasso De Benedetti.

Twitter screenshot.
Twitter screenshot.

“Twitter works well for deaths,” De Benedetti told The Guardian in 2012. “Social media is the most unverifiable information source in the world but the news media believes it because of its need for speed.”

Previous post

July 11: Saint Benedict

Next post

July 12: Saint John Gualbert