Last Friday, a rumor hit the Internet that claimed that Apple founder Steve Jobs had passed away. The false story originated on the Twitter page for What"s Trending, an independent web-based video show that had been hosted at CBS News"s web site. Now The Hollywood Reporter has posted word that CBS News has cut its ties with What"s Trending due to the false Twitter post. CBS had been hosting What"s Trending for only a few months before Friday"s incident.
The What"s Trending Twitter page posted up the false note about Jobs on Friday afternoon but quickly deleted the post from its page. However the damage had been done with other Internet sites repeating the news, with some linking the post to CBS News. Later the Twitter page posted up another message, "Apologies- reports of Steve Job"s death completely unconfirmed. Live on." The host of the web show, Shira Lazar, issued her own note on the What"s Trending Twitter page later, saying that she and the web show"s owners, The Disrupt Group, " ... sincerely apologize for the inaccuracy that was tweeted earlier today." So far neither Lazar nor The Disrupt Group have issued any explanation as to why the original post about Jobs was released.
As we reported earlier, this was just the second false news story that made its way across the Internet on Friday. NBC News"s Twitter page was hacked by a group called the Kiddies who posted up three messages stating that a terrorist attack in New York City was taking place. The Twitter page was quickly disabled and the false posts were deleted before the page was later restored.