Global Internet Outage On Jan 16? The Viral Claim And Its Simpsons Connection

Long-running US TV show, The Simpsons, has gained a reputation for delivering accurate prophesies in recent years. From predicting Donald Trump's first term as the president to calling a future pandemic that will upend the world, old episodes from the show are often used to draw parallels to modern-day events. Now, piggybacking on the prophetic prediction by the creators of Simpsons, a viral video has claimed that the whole world will face an internet blackout on January 16, 2025.

The video showing an alleged episode from the show suggests that the global internet shutdown will be caused due to sharks chewing through the undersea cables. The incident seemingly leads to total disruption across the US with people unable to use computers and phones. They are also unable to make payments using credit cards while employees at Apple stores are forced to manually write the orders.

The clip also shows what appears to be the US president addressing the reporters angrily about the outage. Almost all the characters in the show are affected by the global outage, except for one - Bart, one of the kids in the Simpsons family as he does not have to do his homework.

Social media reacts

Social media users often lap up conspiracy theories but the video appears to have garnered largely humorous responses with many laughing at the absurdity of the claims made in the video.

"So we're going back to the 80's. Outstanding!" said one user, while another added: "Hope it happens, we'll get a break from working."

A third commented: "Do you know how the Internet works? This video is totally fake."

Also Read | The Simpsons Does It Again. It's 'Funniest' Prediction Comes True

What's the truth?

While the video may have gone viral, garnering over 5.6 million views and thousands of comments, the content in it is certainly bogus. There is no such episode in The Simpsons and the entire video appears to be stitched together using AI-prompt-based video tools.

The video takes creative liberties, inspired by real-life events. There have been instances of sharks and other sea creatures damaging the undersea cables but rarely it has led to a global outage. Tech companies have taken measures such as wrapping the undersea cables with materials similar to Kevlar to reduce the likelihood of damage but in the odd chance a mega shark chews through the cable -- rest assured, your internet will be fine.