An article from preeminent satire news site The Onion says that 5 million people were arrested for watching “Game of Thrones” via pirated streams.
A number of people apparently believed the fake news story. “Following a critically acclaimed 10-episode run, the HBO series Game Of Thrones capped off its fourth season Sunday night with a shocking finale that concluded with 5 million viewers being taken into police custody for pirating the show online,” the article reads.
According to a disclaimer, The Onion--founded in 1988--is satire.
“The Onion is a satirical weekly publication published 52 times a year on Thursdays. The Onion is published by Onion, Inc,” it reads, adding: “The Onion uses invented names in all its stories, except in cases where public figures are being satirized. Any other use of real names is accidental and coincidental.”
But on The Onion’s Facebook page and on Twitter, a large number of people believed the “GoT” story.
“Ok the FBI has time to arrest 5 million viewers for a tv show and they do not have the resources to capture the real bad people? Smh! This utterly ridiculous!” one person wrote.
Said another, “5 Million huh? And it is not all over the news of every city? 5 million huh. Where did you get your facts?”
“Everybody just naming people they think this is relevant to in the comments is implicating their friends, which makes it even MORE hilarious,” added another.
