A spokesperson of Carter Center has dismissed rumors that the former US President Jimmy Carter passed away. The person who published the post claimed that the false information was a test to establish how susceptible people are to sensationalist headlines.
“We did not make any statement or change,” said the spokesman, speaking to Reuters.
The initial occurrence of this faked letter image can be traced back to X-posting where clicking “ALT” on the screen exposes text that says he is still alive and “that was just a trick to determine if people can fall for attention-seeking headlines or not.” The public interest in this case has been high as Google Trends show a surge in search for Jimmy Carter death.
“The amount of misinformation which spread throughout the weekend surrounding the President Biden’s health were maddening. I wanted to prove that many people often Comment: here one does not understand who was spreading it spread news with false or exaggerated statements from X without even verifying their sources,” explained owner of Reuters account.
“My respect and good intention goes out to President Carter and his family, since I believe he has done an excellent job in serving our nation and promoting democracy globally,” they asserted themselves.
Yesterday, a widely shared screenshot showed a letter stating, “Former President Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.), a passionate champion of human rights, democracy, WWII veteran and 39th President of the United States passed away Tuesday, July 23 at 1:34am at his home in Plains, Georgia at the age of 99.”
Moreover, according to the letter, Carter “died peacefully with family by his side”. There has been increasing curiosity among members of the public as portrayed by latest spikes on Google Trends which indicate widespread concern regarding Jimmy Carter’s health status.
However, neither this letter nor anything else about it appears on either website or social media platforms belonging to The Carter Center.
