Outline Widespread rumour claims that Facebook will close down for good on March 15, 2011.
Brief Analysis
The claims are untrue. Facebook will certainly not shut down in March 2011. The false rumours are derived from a fictional "news" story published on the "Weekly World News" website, a publication known for churning out utterly fanciful tales disguised as news items.
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Last updated:10th January 2011
First published: 10th January 2011
Article written by Brett M. Christensen About Brett Christensen and Hoax-Slayer
Example
Subject: Facebook closing down
FACEBOOK WILL END ON MARCH 15th! | Weekly World News
ALO ALTO, CA – Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be shut down in March. Managing the site has become too stressful.
“Facebook has gotten out of control,” said Zuckerberg in a press conference outside his Palo Alto office, “and the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.”
Zuckerberg went on to explain that starting March 15th, users will no longer be able to access their Facebook accounts.
Detailed Analysis
This rumour, which is rocketing around cyberspace causing fear and consternation among Facebook fans, claims that Facebook will shut down entirely on March 15, 2011. According to the rumours, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has decided to shut down the site because managing it is too stressful and because the site has "gotten out of control".
However, the rumours have no basis in fact. Zuckerberg has certainly not announced any plans to shut down Facebook. The rumours are derived from a fictional story published on the website"Weekly World News" on January 8th, 2011.
Weekly World News is the online version of a notorious tabloid newspaper of the same name long renowned for publishing utterly fanciful stories disguised as news article. Virtually nothing published on the website is accurate. The "Facebook shutting down" story is apparently intended to be satirical. The site regularly features fake news articles about alien encounters along with fictional gossip stories targeting various celebrities.
Thus, Facebookers can breathe a sigh of relief! Their much beloved network is NOT going to be shut down anytime soon.
Incidentally, this is not the only hoax that has claimed that Facebook users may soon lose their accounts. Another widespread message falsely claims that Facebook is becoming overpopulated and is therefore deleting the accounts of users who do not repost the message.
