Ahoax (plural:hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible.
Somehoaxers intend to eventually unmask their representations as having been a hoax so as to expose their victims as fools; seeking some form of profit, other hoaxers hope to maintain the hoax indefinitely, so that it is only when skeptical people willing to investigate their claims publish their findings, that the hoaxers are finally revealed as such.
Zhang Yingyu'sThe Book of Swindles (c. 1617), published during the lateMing dynasty, is said to be China's first collection of stories about fraud, swindles, hoaxes, and other forms of deception.[1] Althoughpractical jokes have likely existed for thousands of years, one of the earliest recorded hoaxes in Western history was thedrummer of Tedworth in 1661.[2] The communication of hoaxes can be accomplished in almost any manner that a fictional story can be communicated: in person, viaword of mouth, via words printed on paper, and so on. Ascommunications technology has advanced, the speed at which hoaxes spread has also advanced: a rumour about a ghostly drummer, spread by word of mouth, will affect a relatively small area at first, then grow gradually. However, hoaxes could also be spread viachain letters, which became easier as the cost of mailing a letter dropped. The invention of theprinting press in the 15th century brought down the cost of a mass-produced books and pamphlets, and therotary printing press of the 19th century reduced the price even further (seeyellow journalism). During the 20th century, the hoax found a mass market in the form ofsupermarket tabloids, and by the 21st century there werefake news websites which spread hoaxes viasocial networking websites (in addition to the use of email for a modern type ofchain letter).
Thomas Ady'sA candle in the dark ... (1656) contains one of the earliest mentions ofhocus pocus, the origin of the wordhoax.[6]
Robert Nares defined the wordhoax as meaning "to cheat", dating fromThomas Ady's 1656 bookA candle in the dark, or a treatise on the nature of witches andwitchcraft.[6]
The termhoax is occasionally used in reference to urban legends and rumours, but thefolkloristJan Harold Brunvand argues that most of them lack evidence of deliberate creations of falsehood and are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes, so the term should be used for only those with a probable conscious attempt to deceive.[7] As for the closely related termspractical joke andprank, Brunvand states that although there are instances where they overlap,hoax tends to indicate "relatively complex and large-scale fabrications" and includes deceptions that go beyond the merely playful and "cause material loss or harm to the victim."[8]
According to Professor Lynda Walsh of theUniversity of Nevada, Reno, some hoaxes – such as theGreat Stock Exchange Fraud of 1814, labelled as a hoax by contemporary commentators – are financial in nature, and successful hoaxers – such asP. T. Barnum, whoseFiji mermaid contributed to his wealth – often acquire monetary gain or fame through their fabrications, so the distinction betweenhoax andfraud is not necessarily clear.[9] Alex Boese, the creator of theMuseum of Hoaxes, states that the only distinction between them is the reaction of the public, because a fraud can be classified as a hoax when its method of acquiring financial gain creates a broad public impact or captures the imagination of the masses.[10]
One of the earliest recorded media hoaxes is a fakealmanac published byJonathan Swift under the pseudonym ofIsaac Bickerstaff in 1708.[11] Swift predicted the death ofJohn Partridge, one of the leading astrologers in England at that time, in the almanac and later issued anelegy on the day Partridge was supposed to have died. Partridge's reputation was damaged as a result and his astrological almanac was not published for the next six years.[11]
It is possible to perpetrate a hoax by making only true statements using unfamiliar wording or context, such as in theDihydrogen monoxide hoax. Political hoaxes are sometimes motivated by the desire to ridicule or besmirch opposing politicians orpolitical institutions, often before elections.
A hoax differs from amagic trick or from fiction (books, film, theatre, radio, television, etc.) in that the audience is unaware of being deceived, whereas in watching a magician perform an illusion the audience expects to be tricked.
A hoax is often intended as a practical joke or to cause embarrassment, or to provoke social or political change by raising people's awareness of something. It can also emerge from a marketing or advertising purpose. For example, to market aromantic comedy film, a director staged a phony "incident" during a supposed wedding, which showed a bride and preacher getting knocked into a pool by a clumsy fall from a best man.[12] A resulting video clip ofChloe and Keith's Wedding was uploaded to YouTube and was viewed by over 30 million people and the couple was interviewed by numerous talk shows.[12] Viewers were deluded into thinking that it was an authentic clip of a real accident at a real wedding; but a story inUSA Today in 2009 revealed it was a hoax.[12]
Governments sometimes spread false information to facilitate their objectives, such as going to war. These often come under the heading of black propaganda. There is often a mixture of outright hoax andsuppression and management of information to give the desired impression. In wartime and times of international tension rumours abound, some of which may be deliberate hoaxes.
Examples of politics-related hoaxes:
Belgium is a country with aFlemish-speaking region and a French-speaking region. In 2006, French-speaking television channelRTBF interrupted programming witha spoof report claiming that the country had split in two and theroyal family had fled.
The "Bruno Hat" art hoax, arranged in London in July 1929, involved staging a convincing public exhibition of paintings by an imaginary reclusive artist, Bruno Hat. All the perpetrators were well-educated and did not intend a fraud, as the newspapers were informed the next day. Those involved includedBrian Howard,Evelyn Waugh,Bryan Guinness,John Banting andTom Mitford[15]
Ern Malley, the popular but fictitious Australian poet
Apocryphal claims that originate as a hoax gain widespread belief among members of a culture or organisation, become entrenched as persons who believe it repeat it ingood faith to others, and continue to command that belief after the hoax's originators have died or departed
Computervirus hoaxes became widespread asviruses themselves began to spread. A typical hoax is an email message warning recipients of a non-existent threat, usually forging quotes supposedly from authorities such asMicrosoft andIBM. In most cases thepayload is an exhortation to distribute the message to everyone in the recipient'saddress book. Thus the e-mail "warning" is itself the "virus." Sometimes the hoax is more harmful, e.g., telling the recipient to seek a particularfile (usually in aMicrosoft Windowsoperating system); if the file is found, the computer is deemed to be infected unless it is deleted. In reality the file is one required by the operating system for correct functioning of the computer.
Criminal hoax admissions, such as the case of John Samuel Humble, also known asWearside Jack. Criminal hoax admissions divert time and money of police investigations with communications purporting to come from the actual criminal. Once caught, hoaxers are charged under criminal codes such asperverting the course of justice andwasting police time.
Hoaxes formed by making minor or gradually increasing changes to a warning or other claims widely circulated for legitimate purposes
Hoax of exposure is a semi-comical or privatesting operation. It usually encourages people to act foolishly or credulously by falling for patent nonsense that the hoaxer deliberately presents as reality. A related activity isculture jamming. American performance artistJoey Skaggs is renowned for orchestrating elaborate hoaxes that intentionally blur the boundaries between news and art. Notable examples include theCathouse for Dogs (1976), a fictitiousbrothel for canines, andPortofess (1992), a portableconfessional booth mounted on atricycle.[16]
Hoaxes perpetrated by "scare tactics" appealing to the audience's subjectively rational belief that the expected cost of not believing the hoax (the cost if its assertions are true times the likelihood of their truth) outweighs the expected cost of believing the hoax (cost if false times likelihood of falsity), such as claims that a non-malicious but unfamiliar program on one's computer ismalware
Hoaxes perpetrated on occasions when their initiation is considered socially appropriate, such asApril Fools' Day
Internet hoaxes became more common after the start of social media. Some websites have been used to hoax millions of people on the Web.[17]
Paleoanthropological hoaxes, anthropologists were taken in by the "Piltdown Man discovery" that was widely believed from 1913 to 1953
Protest hoaxes. Members of social movements and other political activists have often used hoaxes in order to draw attention to causes and undermine their opponents.[18]
Hoax news (also referred to as fake news[19][20]) is a news report containing facts that are either inaccurate or false but which are presented as genuine.[21] A hoax news report conveys ahalf-truth used deliberately to mislead the public.[22]
Hoax may serve the goal of propaganda ordisinformation – using social media to driveweb traffic and amplify their effect.[23][24][25] Unlikenews satire, fake news websites seek to mislead, rather than entertain, readers for financial or political gain.[26][24]
Hoax news is usually released with the intention of misleading to injure an organisation, individual, or person, and/or benefit financially or politically, sometimes utilising sensationalist, deceptive, or simply invented headlines to maximise readership. Likewise, clickbait reports and articles from this operation gain advertisement revenue.[citation needed]
^Rea, Christopher; Rusk, Bruce (2017). "Translators' Introduction".The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 1.
^Walsh, Lynda (2006).Sins Against Science: The Scientific Media Hoaxes of Poe, Twain, And Others. State University of New York Press. pp. 24–25.ISBN0-7914-6877-1.
^Boese, Alex (2008)."What Is A Hoax?".Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved25 October 2010.
^abWalsh, Lynda (2006).Sins Against Science: The Scientific Media Hoaxes of Poe, Twain, And Others. State University of New York Press. pp. 17–18.ISBN0-7914-6877-1.
^abcOldenburg, Ann (12 October 2009)."Director: 'Chloe and Keith's Wedding' video is a hoax".USA Today.Archived from the original on 13 April 2010. Retrieved5 March 2011.But today, we can tell you: it's definitely a hoax. Chloe and Keith are actors named Josh Covitt and Charissa Wheeler. They're not married.
^Fallis, Don (2014), Floridi, Luciano; Illari, Phyllis (eds.), "The Varieties of Disinformation",The Philosophy of Information Quality, Synthese Library, vol. 358, Springer International Publishing, pp. 135–161,doi:10.1007/978-3-319-07121-3_8,ISBN978-3-319-07121-3
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