Sorry, Facebook users! You’re not getting millions of dollars from creator Mark Zuckerberg, no matter what your status reads.
A new online hoax has been circulating on the social networking site, claiming that the generous billionaire could be giving away a sizable chunk of change to the people who post this status:
“Mark Zuckerberg has announced that he is giving away $45 billion of Facebook stock. What you may not have heard is that he plans to give 10% of it away to people like YOU and ME! All you have to do is copy and paste this message into a post IMMEDIATELY. At midnight PST, Facebook will search through the day’s posts and award 1000 people with $4.5 million each as a way of saying thank you for making Facebook such a powerful vehicle for connection.” (There are a variety of similar statuses, including one that claims the giveaway was announced on Good Morning America.)
The fake status first appeared after Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced in early December they would be donating 99 percent of their Facebook shares to charity.
The official Facebook account quickly confirmed that the statuses were a hoax on December 9, writing, “Friends don't let friends copy and paste memes. While Priscilla and Mark's pledge to give money to improve the world is real, not everything you read on the internet is, and they're not giving it away randomly. Be safe out there, sweepstakes seekers.”
But despite this clarification, hopeful users have continued to repost the status.
Tell Us: Did you fall for the latest Facebook hoax?
