Google Glitch! The latest victim to have died online is Utah Senator Orrin Hatch!
- Google errors continue
- The latest celebrity to be killed online is Utah Senator Orrin Hatch
- People say that politicians are dead inside, but it seems that Google has taken this matter seriously and literally
Hence when people searched for Orrin Hatch who is a politician and a Republican Senator from Utah, they were shocked to learn that he is dead, as per Google search engine’s result page display.
Orrin Hatch and his ‘false’ death
Utah Senator Orrin Hatch learned about this error of Google and decided to check it himself. He thought that it was a rumor but was surprised when he searched on Google and found that he is dead on the Google pages.
When Orrin Hatch searched for his name, the search result page came up. On the right-hand side of the screen was the information box which claimed that Orrin Hatch has died on 11 September 2017.
Orrin Hatch is an elderly-aged senator who is now 84. He is due to retire soon at the end of this current term. But then, he is still very much alive and kicking. Of course, Orrin Hatch was upset with this error on the part of Google.
Orrin Hatch’s social media team takes Google to task
Orrin Hatch has a social media team that scrolls all the news related to their boss. On finding out about this death hoax, the social media team decided to write to Google.
The veteran Senator’s office tweeted:
“Hi.. @Google?
We might need to talk.”
They put up a screenshot of the wrongly displayed information along with this tweet.
Hi.. @Google?
We might need to talk. pic.twitter.com/vdHbcccy7x
— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) July 24, 2018
On getting the tweet, Google rectified the error within an hour. But the senator’s office did not feel like stopping at it and it continued to troll the tech giant. The Senator’s office tweeted:
“In the brief period the internet pronounced Hatch dead, he advanced 3 bills. https://twitter.com/senorrinhatch/status/1021592558756134912?s=21 …
Suicide hotline — https://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/releases?ID=A6D6A73E-4547-4906-B577-E92DE7CB761A …
Workforce training in Perkins CTEhttps://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/3/hatch-and-bennet-introduce-critical-career-and-technical-education-bills …
Even in death, Hatch remains one of the Senate’s most prolific legislators.”
In the brief period the internet pronounced Hatch dead, he advanced 3 bills. https://t.co/j9GoUhSP0m
Suicide hotline — https://t.co/cB4ju9Q4O9
Workforce training in Perkins CTEhttps://t.co/oUBO2ZiC4s
Even in death, Hatch remains one of the Senate’s most prolific legislators.
— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) July 24, 2018
Next, the senator’s office uploaded a picture of the senator reading the morning newspaper and wrote below:
“Catching up on the news this morning, grateful to be alive.”
Catching up on the news this morning, grateful to be alive. pic.twitter.com/YDrYQowQlN
— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) July 24, 2018
Other political death hoaxes over the years
There have been innumerable examples in the past where death hoaxes were put up on the internet. Just 2 days before the death of former First Lady Barbara Bush, CBS by mistake published an obituary for her on their website. The published headlines contained the words ‘Do not publish’ in them.
In 1992, a person claiming to be George HW Bush’s personal physician had called up CNN and stated that George HW Bush had suffered a fainting spell in Tokyo and died. The news nearly went on air and it was at the last moment that they realized that it was a hoax and hence not aired.
Many media outlets had reported that Congressman Gabrielle Giffords died in the 2011 Tucson shootout. Her death news is still online to this day.
There are many more such instances where the mass media and news outlets and tech companies have committed glitches and published death reports of celebrities without proper fact-checking. It is essential for them to constantly check and correct mistakes that are published on their websites.
