Lionel Messi is not dead, car accident rumors are untrue
By Emily Bell
A social media rumor had many people convinced that Lionel Messi was dead after being involved in a car accident that took place in 2023. However, this is untrue. The football player is alive and well.
Social media has become one of the major sources for people to find news. Unfortunately, it has also opened the doors for fake news to sweep in. Recently, Lionel Messi became a victim of a death hoax. Prior to this, other celebrities like Tom Holland, Dwayne Johnson, and more have also faced the same.
Lionel Messi car accident rumors debunked
The rumors started circulating on TikTok when people came across a snippet of YouTuber IShowSpeed reacting to the news about Messi’s death. Many people started sharing the video with hashtags such as ‘RIP Messi.’
Some people thought that the news was true and it did not take long for them to speculate the same.
However, the original photos are from 2009 when a driver ended up crashing his car on the Great Ocean Road in southern Victoria, Australia.
This is not the first time death hoaxes have spread
In the past, several other celebrities have been a victim of death hoaxes. A couple of months ago, Oprah Winfrey became a victim of it after several people complained that they had received a message stating “R.I.P Oprah.”
Due to this, many thought that the television host had died. To add to this, the text message also consisted of a link that the receivers were asked to click if they wanted to read the full news.
However, just like Messi, even Oprah has been doing well. It is quite possible that the text messages were a scam and Oprah’s name was used to get attention.
How to report such posts
If you come across a social media post that may be promoting fake news we would ask you to report it immediately. To do so, follow the steps mentioned below:
If you wish to do it on Twitter, follow the steps below:
- Navigate to the Tweet you’d like to report.
- Tap the icon located at the top of the Tweet.
- Select Report Tweet.
To report on Facebook, do the following:
- Go to the post you want to report.
- Tap in the top right of the post.
- Tap Find Support or Report Post.
- To give feedback, tap the option that best describes how this post goes against Community Standards. Tap Next.
- Click submit
To report on Instagram, follow these steps:
- Click on the three dots on the top right of the post
- Select Report
To report on TikTok, follow the steps below:
- Select the video you want to report
- Click on the arrow that appears in the bottom right corner of the video
- Select ‘Report’ from the options that appears
- Choose ‘Misleading’ from the options
- Click on submit
