On Tuesday 7 January 2025, it was reported that Meta is ending its longstanding fact-checking program to introduce a community notes scheme, similar to the one that Elon Musk integrated into X, formerly Twitter. Some hailed the decision as a win for free speech while others condemned the choice, in anticipation of an avalanche of misinformation that is going to hit Facebook and Instagram. But a select few jokesters opted for a third option. Clearly under the impression that it was best to give Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg a taste of his own medicine, a group of users began spreading the completely made up rumour that the CEO himself committed the infamous murder of JonBenét Ramsey.

JonBenét Ramsey was an American child beauty queen, who was killed at age six in her family’s home in Colorado. Her murder remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in American history and has been the subject of several true crime documentaries, countless podcasts, books and an upcoming series starring Melissa McCarthy.

Now the notorious case that involves kidnapping, a suspicious ransom note, and worldwide media attention has become fodder for one of the wildest conspiracies of this year—and it’s only January—with users clearly wanting to take a swipe at “anti-factchecker” Mark Zuckerberg.

a section of a newspaper in brazil reported “zuckerberg announces the end of fact checking on facebook and instagram and then kills his own mother” as a headline

followed by “this is false… or not. without fact checking, nobody will know the truth”

BRUTAL lol pic.twitter.com/Xy2wy8Ruxe

— b (@wwxwashere) January 9, 2025

Anti-fact checker Mark Zuckerberg has been revealed to be the real murderer of JonBenet Ramsey. pic.twitter.com/XgtEsmuoCD

— Johnny (@ThatWhiteSoxFan) May 29, 2020

But is there any truth to it? I suppose that without appropriate fact checking we will never know. Where was Zuckerberg on 26 December 1996? There are questions that demand answers, at least to those gullible enough to believe every strange thing they read online.

However, the young girl’s death is not the only suspicious death users are trying to tie Zuckerberg too. Oh no, according to these new claims, he could also be responsible for the deaths of Jeffrey Epstein, and President John F. Kennedy.

Meta CEO and dog fucker Mark Zuckerberg has said that his platforms don’t need fact-checkers. So to celebrate this win for free speech, we wanted to relive his best quotes. pic.twitter.com/ieADB7FOk8

— The Chaser (@chaser) January 8, 2025

Other posters simply went for the good old fashioned fake news that Zuckerberg tragically passed away.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg – who died of a drug overdose in his Californian home today – says it is not Facebook’s role to be the arbiter of truth for everything people post online.

Read the full story –> https://t.co/yFUSp1D6Bd pic.twitter.com/qV5l80cPZb

— The Shovel (@TheShovel) January 7, 2025

Some even thought it was likely that after 13 years of a marriage to Priscilla Chan, the businessman married his forever crush, Emmy Award winner Jonathan Van Ness from Queer Eye. I hope they’ll live happily ever after.

BREAKING: shortly after announcing that he would eliminate fact-checking on his social media platform, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg promptly divorced his wife of 13 years, Priscilla Chan, and married Emmy Award winner Jonathan Van Ness.#parody pic.twitter.com/fLqA61CKQN

— Terry Hague (@TezzaBelle88) January 8, 2025

Either way, it seems like the internet is discovering the silver lining in a controversial move that might reshape the dynamics on Facebook and Instagram completely.