Fake BBC account tweeted the Queen was dead and Twitter exploded

A hoax BBC News account sent Twitter into meltdown after it announced that Queen Elizabeth II had died.

 

The @BBCNewsUKI account, which is not verified on Twitter and uses letters in mixed case to spell "UK" in its bio, has since been suspended. However, the false tweet got more than 200 retweets:

Many influential people on Twitter, including the French ambassador to the US Gerard Araud retweeted the message before realising it was a hoax:

Among other people who fell for the hoax was Pamela McClintock, a writer for Hollywood Reporter and Frank Graves, the founder of research firm EKOS Frank Graves:

[embed]https://twitter.com/VoiceOfFranky/status/814551603206299648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/embed]

Others blamed 2016:

[embed]https://twitter.com/KatCalvinLA/status/814548441892319233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/thefilmcynic/status/814547151372091393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/embed]

One guy even rushed to Buckingham Palace to check with his own eyes:

[embed]https://twitter.com/1CharlieArcher/status/814721378192605184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/embed]

Others thought a media cover-up was taking place:

[embed]https://twitter.com/Foo_fan_Shaun/status/814729607651979265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/embed]

[embed]https://twitter.com/blackKrypt0nite/status/814739056491982848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/embed]

The BBC's Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones described the rumour mill as "bonkers":

[embed]https://twitter.com/ruskin147/status/814741080033914880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/embed]

The Sun newspaper reported a Buckingham Palace spokesman as saying: "The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh continue to recover from their heavy colds."

This tweet pretty much sums up the futility of fake news.

[embed]https://twitter.com/Bryj74/status/814629301782016000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/embed]

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