An article saying that Pfizer contains an upgraded COVID-19 vaccine containing a Microsoft chip is not true – and was intended by the original authors to be humorous.
The piece was posted online with the caption: “Pfizer announces COVID-19 vaccine upgrade, now contains Microsoft Chip for diminished symptoms”, and Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, claims that the pluton chip would make it “easier than ever” make to detect vaccine recipients. The article adds: ‘There are rumors that Apple intends to curtail a similar agreement with Moderna, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Microsoft ($ MSFT) shares fell 2% and Pfizer ($ PFE) shares rose 1.3% in After Hours trading. ”
It looks like the article was originally posted on The Stonk Market, a website that makes it clear that the articles are not at the right value (here, thestonkmarket.com/). A note on his website reads: “TheStonkMarket.com is a financial satire website. The site offers unique coverage across the financial industry, equities, hedge funds and world markets. Mission: To give daily humor and make stonks go up. ”
However, the article was also published verbatim elsewhere on the internet, without any indication that it was intended as satire (here).
The link to the duplicate article has been seen thousands of times on Facebook, and apparently some users are under the illusion that the story is authentic. “Sounds like the perfect plan … I HAVE NO WORDS for those who buy this BS!” said one user (here). It is also shared in Italian (here), Russian (here) and Hebrew (here).
VERDICT
Satire. The original authors intended the article to be humorous; however, copies shared on social media that do not make this intent clear have led some users to believe that it is authentic.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.