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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.
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