Saudi king did not offer $150 billion for Facebook | ZDNet
It started with a satire site, but then was picked up by the the crafty “journalists” for state sponsored media in Iran. They tend to automatically run with any item that makes for good anti-Sunni or anti-Saudi agitprop, no matter how ridiculous. In that regard their credulity is only surpassed by Fox news reporting on anything to do with President Obama.
The satirical website Dawn Wires recently posted an article titled “Saudi King to buy Facebook for $150 billion to end the revolt: Goldman Sachs to advise.” It was filed under LoL News, and even concluded with the words “Sunday Humor.” Despite this, tens of thousands of Internet users and some mainstream media fell for the fake news story.
Unfortunately, various publications in the Middle East and elsewhere took it as fact. Google marketing manager and political activist Wael Ghonim, who played an active role in the revolution in Egypt, posted the following on his Twitter account: “Egyptian mainstream media is reporting this http://bit.ly/dRxCu1 as real news. Some journalists need some serious training!”