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Rumours that the former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev has died have been quashed by his representatives – twice in the space of two days.
Proving that death hoaxes surrounding the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize are still popular, a Facebook post that reportedly garnered more than one million likes emerged on Monday saying “our beloved politician has passed away… He will be missed but not forgotten”.
Gorbachev’s spokesperson told the Media Mass website in Moscow that “he’s still alive and well”, adding that he had “joined the long list of celebrities who have been victimised by this hoax”.
But not to be undone, Twitter came up with its own hoax on Tuesday, with a fake account purporting to belong to the Norwegian defence minister claiming: “Former Soviet President Gorbachev has died suddenly in Moscow, as Russia Defence Ministry confirms.”
The fake Twitter account that emerged on Tuesday The fact that the profile was only set up 15 minutes before posting the report ought to have aroused suspicion – though some were taken in .
Yet the rumour has again been definitively quashed, this time by Vladimir Polyakov of the Gorbachev foundation, who told the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford : “I just left his office.”
Show all 10 1 /10Still alive and kicking: Famous people social media tried to kill off Still alive and kicking: Famous people social media tried to kill off Jeff Goldblum The actor, famous for his roles in The Fly and Jurassic Park suffered a fatal fall from a cliff while filming in New Zealand in June 2009 - or so Australian news show Today would have you believe. The show had got their information from the latest Twitter frenzy for celebrity deaths following on from the recent genuine death of Michael Jackson, but assured viewers that their story was confirmed by New Zealand police.
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Still alive and kicking: Famous people social media tried to kill off Pope Benedict While there is strict ritual and ceremony to be followed to confirm the death of any pope, this did not seem to matter to thousands, who believed a tweet from 'Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone', the papal number two, announcing the passing on of the then Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. The tweet was later revealed to be from Tommaso De Benedetti, a Roman school teacher, who says he pulled the hoax to expose the weakness of social media.
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Still alive and kicking: Famous people social media tried to kill off Adam Sandler The comedian should really give up snowboarding. The actor has been the victim of various hoax reports announcing his death, each time in a similar accident involving a snowboard and a tree. Rebutting the rumours on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Sandler assured viewers "If I do die it will be in America and I won't be on a snowboard, I will either be on a toilet or hanging from a belt naked."
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Still alive and kicking: Famous people social media tried to kill off Zach Braff In 2007, Scrubs actor Zach Braff became an unfortunate victim of nothing but his own undoing. He set up a website announcing that he had committed suicide, in order to film his friends' reactions. In 2009, Braff was again the subject of an internet death hoax. New Jersey resident Chris Laganella kick-started a rumour about the actor's death, forcing Braff to put out a video on YouTube confirming his wellbeing.
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Still alive and kicking: Famous people social media tried to kill off Miley Cyrus She once sang "I can't be tamed", but it also seems American singer Miley Cyrus can't be killed off by an internet rumour either. In September 2008, Reuters reported that the then 15-year-old star had died in a car accident, while later that year someone hacked her YouTube page to announce that she had died after being hit by a drunk driver.
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Still alive and kicking: Famous people social media tried to kill off Gotye The Australian singer's friends and family were concerned that Gotye had become "somebody they used to know" in July, when CNN's iReport - the channel's social news network - reported that he had shot himself in the head in 2012. Gotye quickly took to Twitter to deny the report, while bandmate Tim Shiel joked "It saddens me to confirm the news of Gotye's passing - he suffered cardiac arrest while flying a unicorn over a double rainbow".
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Still alive and kicking: Famous people social media tried to kill off Kanye West In one of his most famous hits, he said "Jesus walks with us", but according to Reuters in 2009, it was the rapper who was walking with Jesus, when it reported that he had been killed in a car crash. With Kanye being one of the world's biggest performers, this soon caused chaos on Twitter, leading to his less-than-amused then girlfriend at the time Amber Rose to take to the site exclaiming: "This 'RIP Kanye West' topic is not funny and it's NOT TRUE!".
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Still alive and kicking: Famous people social media tried to kill off Neil Young Following the death of moon-walker Neil Armstrong at the weekend, NBCNews.com mistakenly reported "Astronaut Neil Young, first man to walk on moon, dies at age 82". The headline was amended within seven minutes, with sources confirming the 66-year-old Canadian musician is still rocking like a hurricane.
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Still alive and kicking: Famous people social media tried to kill off Skrillex The dubstep DJ formerly known as Sonny Moore was the victim of several death pranks over the past year, including one alleging a cocaine overdose. In each occasion the producer everyone love to hate has had to take to Twitter to deny reports, and confirm that he is still alive and - unfortunately for some - making music.
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Still alive and kicking: Famous people social media tried to kill off Gerard Way It's not just the micro-publishing power of Twitter that has sparked internet death rumours. With its open-editing platform, Wikipedia is also vulnerable to such pranks, and My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way found this out in 2008 when someone changed his entry on the online encyclopedia to confirm his death in a car crash. He later released a statement reassuring fans that he was okay and had not joined the 'Black Parade' quite yet.
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In August 2013, Gorbachev “died” after the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti’s Twitter account was hacked and planted with a false report.
And in May 2012 the leader was again pronounced dead by a rogue account claiming to belong to a senior Scandinavian politician – then it was “the Swedish Prime Minister”.
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