A bizarre rumor that billionaire George Soros has died started circulating on Twitter overnight – despite the false story coming from an account with three followers.
Illustrating how widespread fake news can be on Twitter, a since-deleted tweet by Politics For All Ireland said the 92-year-old had died.
The tweet from the account, which had three followers at the time, snowballed and went viral after a number of users shared the false rumours.
But Soros, who used his wealth to reshape America in his liberal vision by funding campaigns for woke district attorneys across the country, is alive and well, a spokesman has told MailOnline.
Here MailOnline takes a look at who Soros is and why false rumors that the billionaire died were all the rage.
A bizarre rumor that billionaire George Soros (pictured with his son Alex) has died started spreading on Twitter overnight – despite the false story coming from an account with three followers.
Who is George Soros?
Billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, 92, made his fortune in hedge funds and is now known as a pro-democracy activist who founded Open Society Foundations.
This made him a favorite target of conservatives. Since the Jan. 6 attack on Congress, he has used his vast wealth to back candidates he says promote democracy and the rule of law.
But Soros, a Hungarian-born businessman, has come under fire for throwing millions behind woke district attorneys who support his leftist agenda.
The billionaire’s prosecutors scrapped bail laws and opted out of prosecuting crimes like theft and reckless driving, giving criminals a free pass and causing the law and justice to collapse. order in the United States.
Soros has long supported liberal politics. The billionaire is pictured above with Nancy Pelosi and her son Alex
As a direct result, crime has skyrocketed in major cities overseen by Soros’ prosecutors. In 2021, under the reign of Kim Foxx, Chicago recorded the most murders since 1994. And in Philadelphia, drug use and violent crime have seen an increase since Larry Krasner took office.
Soros has long supported liberal politics. In the 2000s, he was an outspoken opponent of President George W. Bush and donated millions to prevent his re-election, then made a large donation to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton.
The billionaire is known in the UK as ‘the man who blew up the Bank of England’ on Black Wednesday in 1992, when he made a billion dollar profit betting on currencies that forced the UK out of the exchange rate mechanism.
Soros has been married three times and divorced twice and is currently married to 51-year-old healthcare consultant Tamiko Bolton, who is 42 years his junior.
Over the past three decades, Soros has donated more than $7 billion to promote democracy, foster free speech, improve education, and fight global poverty.
Why is ‘George Soros dead?’ trending on Twitter?
Last night the Politics for All Ireland Twitter account, which had three followers at the time, tweeted that Soros’ family had confirmed the billionaire’s death.
The since-deleted tweet was quickly taken up by Twitter user and conspiracy theorist Cillian, who claimed that Soros had died of a “violent heart attack”.
Cillian’s tweet was viewed over 745,000 times and quickly went viral, with many users believing Soros to be dead.
However, it has been confirmed that Soros is not dead and is alive and well.
A spokesperson for the Open Society Foundations said: “George Soros is alive and well. Rumors on social media that he suffered a heart attack and died are false.
It has been confirmed that Soros (pictured in 2019 in Vienna, Austria) is not dead and is alive and well.
Is this the first time that Soros has been rumored to be dead?
This is not the first time that rumors of Soros’ “death” have made headlines.
In 2013, the Reuters news agency was left red-faced after accidentally publishing a pre-written obituary of Santos.
The obituary, which was online for 30 minutes before being deleted, read: “George Soros, who died XXX at the age of XXX, was a predatory and hugely successful financier and investor, who paradoxically argued for years against the same type of freewheeling capitalism made him billions.
Reuters apologized for the error at the time. He said in a statement: “Reuters mistakenly published an anticipated obituary of financier and philanthropist George Soros. A spokesperson for Soros said the New York-based financier is alive and well. Reuters regrets the error.
The billionaire (pictured in 2002 in London) is known in the UK as ‘the man who broke the Bank of England’ on Black Wednesday in 1992, when he made a billion dollar profit doing currency bets that forced the UK out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism
