A report has gone viral that falsely claims that Microsoft has acquired Sony, with all its divisions, including PlayStation.
However, we found that the original source of the information was a fake website created as a prank on Mexico’s “Holy Innocents’ Day 2020”.
CLAIM
A new, entertainment and fashion website called en24 News published an article that was titled, “Microsoft acquires Sony with all its divisions, including PlayStation”. The article was sourced from a report posted on a website called “Microsofters”.
The article mentioned details of the deal and said that “the American giant has acquired Sony for a figure close to 130 billion dollars”.
The post was shared by several people on Twitter. While some questioned the authenticity of the news, others shared it as fact.
The post was also shared on Facebook.
Exchange4media, a website that writes on marketing, advertising and media professionals, also fell for the viral post and published a report on their website and shared it on their social media handles.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
When we looked up the story on Google, we didn’t find any known news website carrying the story. We found the source of the story mentioned at the end of the report published on en24 News, which took us to the website called “Microsofters”.
Although the website claimed to be a reference site of Microsoft technologies in Spanish, it didn’t have the original design or layout of the tech giant’s website. Several other articles mentioned on the homepage of the website redirected us to the homepage.
Finally, when we went to the end of the original article, it said, “Feliz Día de los Inocentes!” [Translation: Happy Day of the Innocents].
According to MexxConnect, an online magazine, “the Day of Innocents” is celebrated on 28 December in Mexico, Spain and other Latin American countries. It is equivalent to the April Fool’s Day when people play pranks on each other. Media houses are also known to follow the tradition and publish outlandish reports.
The information about the acquisition was also not found on either Sony or Microsoft’s website or social media handles.
Evidently, the claim that Microsoft had acquired Sony was false and stemmed from a prank website.
(We have written to both Microsoft and Sony for their official statements on the same and will update this copy when we receive a response.)
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