Tommaso Debenedetti: The man who shared hoax tweet on Amartya Sen's 'death'

After the news of Amartya Sen being alive was confirmed, Tommaso Debenedetti also confirmed that the account was a fake one. (Image credit: @TommasoDeBenede/X)

X, formerly Twitter, was set abuzz on Tuesday evening after the posts began to circulate on Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen's alleged death. When it was finally clarified that Sen was alive and well, the first fake post on his death was traced back to one person -- Tommaso Debenedetti.

The Italian school teacher who describes himself as a "journalist" on social media is infamous for spreading hoax tweets from fake accounts with a single goal -- to expose weak links in the media.

As soon as someone identifies the account as fake, Debenedetti tweets that the account was indeed a hoax, created by him, the Washington Post stated in a report. But even though not all of Debenedetti's posts go viral, on Tuesday he tasted success as more than one media house in India published news pieces and sent out notifications on Amartya Sen's alleged death.

One of the reasons why the tweet went viral was because it appeared to be shared by another Nobel prize winner in Economics -- Claudia Goldin. The announcement regarding her win was made only a couple of days ago.

A terrible news. My dearest Professor Amartya Sen has died minutes ago. No words. pic.twitter.com/giIdK0t2XA

— Claudia Goldin (@profCGoldin) October 10, 2023

With Goldin's name and profile picture, it was easy to mistake it to be her official account. But soon after the news of Sen being alive was confirmed, Debenedetti also confirmed that the "news" was fake.

This account is hoax created by Italian journalist Tommaso Debenedetti.

— Claudia Goldin (@profCGoldin) October 10, 2023

But not all of Debenedetti's accounts find viral success but he continues to “spread fake news every day" he told the Washington Post. One of his famous successes, however, was Pullitzer-winning author Cormac McCarthy’s alleged death.

The "announcement" fooled a major media house USA Today into sending out a Twitter alert for the author's death before Debenedetti declared that account to be a hoax.

"This story reveals the terrible situation of media," he told The Washington Post in 2016. "The account was not reliable and was created minutes before the news of the death: but a lot of important sites believed it. Incredible!"

Sorry for any inconvienience, @nya_moderaterna , the fake account will be removed shortly. #svpol

— Tommaso De Benedetti (@TommasoDeBenede) May 22, 2012

In a previous interview, Debenedetti told the publication that he has no intention of stopping with the hoax accounts. "I continue to create hoaxes because any day, any week, people believe and journalists all around the world publish my fake news as true," he added.

"Twitter works well for deaths," Debenedetti told The Guardian in an earlier interview and the publication called him "one of the world's most creative and successful fake tweeters."

He added that social media is the most unverifiable information source in the world but, "the news media believes it because of its need for speed."

Read more: Amartya Sen is as busy as ever, says daughter after rubbishing rumours of his death