Mark Zuckerberg Death Hoax: Facebook Founder 'Dies In Car Crash'

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's 29-year-old co-founder, is the latest victim of a celebrity death hoax.

According to Travelers Today, Global Associated News published the rumour that Zuckerberg died in a car crash.

The report read: "Mark Zuckerberg died in a single vehicle crash on Route 80 between Morristown and Roswell. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics responding to the vehicle accident and was identified by photo ID found on his body. Alcohol and drugs do not appear to have been a factor in this accident - April 28, 2014."

Adding on, the article claimed that Zuckerberg "lost control while driving a friend's vehicle on Interstate 80 and rolled the vehicle several times killing him instantly...Toxicology tests will be performed to determine whether he was driving under the influence, however initial findings indicate that durgs or alcohol did not contribute in any way to this accident as it was more likely to been caused by road conditions."

However, the report is fake. Global Associated News has developed a reputation for spreading false reports about celebrities' deaths.

The list of celebrities affected by similar hoaxes is growing all the time, and includes Hollywood and kung fu legend Jackie Chan, Oscar-winning actors Morgan Freeman and Reese Witherspoon, comedian Bill Cosby, Robert Pattinson, Denzel Washington, Adele, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga.

In March, Tim Stevens, editor at large at CNET, told CBS: "A site like TMZ makes maybe 100 million page views a month. Obviously, these fake sites aren't getting anywhere near that, but if they can get really a fraction of that, they can make tens of thousands of dollars off of one of these fake stories over just a couple of days.

"If you're someone who just casually reads headlines or reads the first couple sentences of a story, you probably would never notice that these stories are fake," he added.