A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 23

I’m pretty sure you saw this:

For about an hour on Thursday afternoon, Morgan Freeman was dead. That is, if Twitter was to be believed.

Not only that, it appeared that CNN had reported Freeman’s death on its official Twitter feed, as users began retweeting other users’ tweets with variations of this:

RT @CNN: Breaking News: actor Morgan Freeman has passed away in his Burbank home

Freeman, it turned out, was alive. And CNN did not — as some users who went to CNN’s feed to see the tweet for themselves — report then retract the news of Freeman’s demise. CNN said they never tweeted it in the first place:

CNN did not report Morgan Freeman death. Rumor is false. CNN will aggressively investigate this hoax.

So how did it happen?

“Blame it on @originalcjizzle, a guy with nearly 1,500 followers who is fond of calling people ‘jive turkeys,’” Slate reported.

Shortly before 5:00 p.m. ET, “@originalcjizzle” tweeted this:

RT @CNN: Breaking News: actor Morgan Freeman has passed away in his Burbank home<< wow legendary actor #RIPmorganfreeman

With CNN’s Twitter handle legitimizing what was an otherwise garden-variety celebrity death hoax, it was off to the viral races.

You know if Person A really wanted to screw with Person B, given the ubiquity of social media nowadays, it would probably be pretty easy. A concerted, centrally orchestrated effort of rumors and innuendo could be devastating. Wife, children, friends, neighbors, work, play. Someone could create a public perception of another person as a monster and what could they do?

Have you heard of the website ICorrect.com? “The universal website for corrections to lies, misinformation and misrepresentations.” Celebrities use it — for an annual fee of $1,000 — to set the record straight.

Maybe not enough if the Hannibal Lecter of social media decided they didn’t like you — and wanted to take you out.

Is there a movie here?