Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In 2008, a user on 4Chan named JohnTW found a flaw in CNN's news system, letting anyone publish an article directly to their site. So in an attempt to troll, he wrote a fake report claiming that Steve Jobs had just suffered a massive heart attack and was on the verge of death.
4Chan absolutely loved the idea, so they began spamming the link everywhere, and because it was on CNN's actual site, the article looked official.
The fake story did everything from sending Twitter into a panic, to fooling journalists into reporting it, to even tricking Wall Street's trading algorithms into selling off Apple.
It got so bad that the stock lost over 9% of its value, wiping out 5 billion dollars in a matter of minutes.
Apple's PR team scrambled to fight back, telling the world that the article was fake. The stock immediately recovered, and CNN quietly deleted the post.
#pezle #4chanstory #internethistory
In 2008, a user on 4Chan named JohnTW found a flaw in CNN's news system, letting anyone publish an article directly to their site. So in an attempt to troll, he wrote a fake report claiming that Steve Jobs had just suffered a massive heart attack and was on the verge of death.
4Chan absolutely loved the idea, so they began spamming the link everywhere, and because it was on CNN's actual site, the article looked official.
The fake story did everything from sending Twitter into a panic, to fooling journalists into reporting it, to even tricking Wall Street's trading algorithms into selling off Apple.
It got so bad that the stock lost over 9% of its value, wiping out 5 billion dollars in a matter of minutes.
Apple's PR team scrambled to fight back, telling the world that the article was fake. The stock immediately recovered, and CNN quietly deleted the post.
#pezle #4chanstory #internethistory
