Do we really need another day of hoaxes, when the internet is trying to fool us pretty much every other day of the year, too? Regardless, April Fools’ Day is here again, so it’s worth saying: Everything you read on April 1 that seems even the least bit weird is possibly false.
Have you ever read the Wikipedia entry for April Fools’ Day? We can’t even trace the origins of this holiday, like we can with Mother’s Day or Earth Day. There might be a connection to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, or to Noah’s Ark, but then again maybe not. It’s perhaps the weirdest — or the most foolish — holiday we have.
Even the staid old New York Times got in on the act today, with an all-emoji version of its Connections online word game.
And this year, the astrological movement known as Mercury Retrograde, which some people believe brings bad luck, also begins on April 1 — so if you believe in that, get ready for extra weirdness.
How to spot an April Fools’ prank
The best tip is simply to be suspicious. If a company picks April Fools’ Day, or the days leading up to it, to release or announce a product that sounds too odd to be true, don’t be quick to believe in the offering.
Fact-check anything that looks suspicious — especially before spending any money. Make sure you’re on the company’s own site, for one thing. Google the name of the product, or information about the item, to see if anyone has called out the product as a prank. Usually, fake products will offer a page to click to, and that page may simply say APRIL FOOL.
Some of the biggest companies out there have created joke products for the holiday, but not all the shams and hoaxes are corporate jokes. Don’t fall for April Fools’ pranks from random tricksters. It’s easy to spread falsehoods and misinformation on Reddit, Facebook, TikTok or Instagram, where everyone is a publisher and not everyone can be trusted.
And not all pranks are products. Be very wary of “news reports” you see on sites that aren’t real…
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