“URGENT: Buckingham Palace announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 90. The causes of death are not yet known.”  This information of very bad taste was communicated on December 30th via a fake BBC Twitter account, which was quickly identified and suppressed.

The British Monarch could not attend the traditional Christmas Mass – a first in 30 years –which reportedly prompted malicious Internet users to report falsely on her health. The terrible hoax spread at great speed on social networks. An official statement said, “The Queen continues to recover from a big cold”.