Twitter has recently raised much to be undesired as hashtags saying RIP to celebrities go top on the trending bar. It began with Ellen when people were no longer interested in her appearance on TV, then RIP Queen Elizabeth, and now Jeff Bezos.
Twitter users have used the site’s algorithm to spread death hoax about Jeff Bezos, the CEO and founder of Amazon.com.
This has happened on a number of occasions in the past. Twitter users have used the social networking site before to spread false alarms on supposed deaths of the Queen and Ellen Degeneres.
Trending hashtags are often used to address topics that have gained significant interest from social media users. Once a topic on celebrities such as Jeff Bezos gets into the media, it spreads like wildfire.
The false story about the death of Jeff Bezos was fabricated and spread in the U.S. using the hashtag #RIPJeffBezos, and it has spread to the rest of the world. In Kenya, the twitter hashtag #ripjeffbezos has been the top trend for some hours on Wednesday evening.
The trending hashtag tricks users to believe that the news is real, and most of us bought the lie at least for a while. I believe I am not the only one who rushed to Google and typed #ripjeffbezos, or “Jeff Bezos Dies.”
So where did the hoax hashtag #ripjeffbezos originate. It seems that the story was fabricated by some malicious people since the report on Ellen Degeneres, who was accused of hurting the people she works with, as The Independent reports.
The story now seems to have extended to other celebrities like Jeff Bezos, as unknown people try to gain followership and public attention on social media.
Although it is difficult to know where the Jeff Bezos death hoax came from, it is possible that the trend began when an unnamed person raised false claim that Jeff Bezos had drowned in Amazon River, possibly in sarcasm rather than harmful intent.
We do not endorse or support the #ripjeffbezos hashtag, so we would like to clarify that Jeff Bezos is not dead, it is an hoax.
