On the surface it seems like a bad taste prank. But now there are investigations to see if something more sinister was behind it.
On Friday someone posted a reported that Apple boss Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack on CNN’s iReport site, a place that encourages public reportage.
As an indication of just how much Jobs is entwined with his brand, Apple stocks fell nine per cent on the news – at least they did until CNN pulled the story, which proved to be a fake.
While stunts like that do citizen journalism and Web 2.0 no favors, there are now thoughts that darker forces might be at work. Vnunet has reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating to see if the report was an attempt at stock manipulation.
The report, posted around 7 am by someone known only as Johntw, claimed that Jobs was in hospital, "suffering from severe chest pains and shortness of breath." Apple prices rebounded after the story was discredited and pulled, but still ended three per cent down.
CNN said:
“The fraudulent content was removed from the site and the user’s account was disabled.”
It’s been a bad years for fake Jobs health reports – in August Bloomberg published his obituary.
