No, Facebook Won't Shut Down March 15, 2012. It Didn't Last Year Either

There's a sucker born every minute: A Weekly World News story -- almost identical to one that ran last year -- claims Facebook will shut down on March 15, and people have been sharing a link to the article as if it were true.

There’s a sucker born every minute: A Weekly World News story — almost identical to one that ran last year — claims Facebook will shut down on March 15, and people have been sharing a link to the article as if it were true.

Unlike last year’s nearly identical story in the Weekly World News, this time around, there’s a link to a petition urging Chief Executive Officer Mark Officer not to shut down Facebook.

Some 63,499 signatures appear there as of this writing, and the first one bears the name of the infamous hacker Kevin Mitnick, most likely faked as part of the joke — although it could be a message.

Last year’s Weekly World News article about an end to Facebook inspired a malware campaign tied to the suggestion that people repost status updates to keep their accounts from getting shut down.

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