The YouTube-declared Falsehood: Alleged Countdown Video Circulating, Attributed to Luigi Mangione, is a Deception
The YouTube-declared Falsehood: Alleged Countdown Video Circulating, Attributed to Luigi Mangione, is a Deception
Have you stumbled upon a dubious YouTube video claiming to be from Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old individual linked to the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York recently? The video spread like wildfire on Monday, garnering attention on platforms such as Hacker News. However, it's a hoax.
Mangione allegedly possessed a "manifesto" and a homemade firearm, leading to his arrest at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania on Monday. He was charged with five offenses, including carrying an unlicensed firearm, forgery, misrepresenting himself to authorities, and possessing tools designed for criminal activity, as stated in an online criminal complaint. Despite these charges, Mangione was not implicated in Thompson's murder and has not been considered a suspect, despite public speculation.
On Monday, a video emerged that seemed to be connected to a YouTube account associated with Mangione. The video kicked off with the words "The Truth" and "If you're viewing this, I'm already under arrest." The video featured a countdown clock, which started at 5 before flipping to 60 and decreasing all the way down to zero.
The lower right corner displayed the word "Soon" and momentarily showed the date Dec. 11 before disappearing again within a second. It concluded with the words "Everything is scheduled, be patient. Until next time."
If you're intrigued by what the actual video looked like, you can take a look here, assuming YouTube hasn't removed it as well. Please understand we're not trying to mislead anyone with this. It can be interesting to understand the hype surrounding a hoax even if you missed it initially.
The account was created in January 2024, and it's plausible for someone to set up a sort of "last request" mechanism—they schedule a video to be published at a later time, intending to halt the auto-publish if they haven't been arrested (or killed, or whatever the situation may be). However, YouTube confirmed to Gizmodo that it was a fabrication.
“We suspended the channel in question due to violations of our policies prohibiting impersonation, which disallow content meant to impersonate someone on YouTube,” a representative from the video platform told Gizmodo via email on Monday.
“The channel's metadata was updated following widespread reporting of Luigi Mangione's arrest, including changes to the channel name and handle,” the representative further elaborated. “Additionally, we suspended 3 other channels belonging to the suspect, in accordance with our Creator Responsibility Guidelines.”
The representative also noted that these accounts had been inactive for months. The identity of the person behind the video remains a mystery. However, our bets are on something relating to cryptocurrency. Who knows?
The video's timer pointing towards December 11 suggested a potential revelation in the future, hinting at unspecified actions. Despite YouTube confirming the video as a hoax, the tech community continues to speculate about the motivations behind the use of promising technology for deception.