Communications Major

The Facebook privacy hoax is making the rounds again. You know the one; it is practically impossible to not have stumbled across some variation on the theme in your newsfeed. These posts, with their almost-official-sounding language forming a big block of text, have been around for years, and while their specific wording and typos may vary, they all have one fundamental thing in common: They don’t work. Nothing you can say in your profile can override whatever you already agreed to in Facebook’s terms of service.

The person posting as @GSElevator on Twitter, thought to be a Goldman Sachs employee, is actually a 34-year-old former bond trader in Texas. The Twitter account could have alternatively been called "Sh*t Wall Street Bankers Say", with tweets like “I never give money to homeless people. I can’t reward failure in good conscience,” and “Groupon…Food stamps for the middle class," attracting more than 600,000 followers before its cover was blown. 

People really liked what they thought were Morgan Freeman's words of wisdom on the media and its coverage of the Newtown shooting. The question now: Will they still like them knowing that Freeman didn't actually say them?