Last weekend Google spread the date that Eminem died even though he’s still alive and well،
When you think about all the news and information that circulates online every day, the amount is staggering. Sometimes you come across someone who wants to create some sort of reaction by posting fake news on Wikipedia for laughs. Most of the time, fake news never makes it past the Wikipedia stage because it is picked up by a reader and brought to the attention of the people at Wikipedia who are responsible for correcting this sort of thing.
Google is fooled by a false report on Eminem's death and shares the false news of his disappearance with the Internet
Anyone who searched for Eminem using Google Search on December 10 may have seen the Knowledge Graph showing that Eminem was dead. And to help spread the news, over a 24-hour period, the rapper's fans wrote things like, “I can't believe he's gone.” And messages from Real Slim Shady fans included the hashtag #RIPEminem.
This hashtag actually appeared in 2020 when another hoax spread online that Eminem was dead after a user of what was then called Twitter posted a tweet saying, “I killed Eminem” . In this case, the account was suspended, but not before the rumor of Eminem's death circulated on the Internet.
Google commented on the incident last week by pointing out that the Knowledge Graph uses various sources, including Wikipedia. Google says it has systems that are supposed to detect if any of the Knowledge Graph sources have been tampered with. However, Google says this system is not perfect. In the event of a system failure, as was the case with Eminem's fake death, Google hopes to be informed by users so that it can manually repair the Knowledge Graph.