30 Times People Thought They Could Trick Everyone But Got Nominated For “Didn’t Happen Of The Year Awards” Instead
InterviewLet’s face it—people lie. Sometimes, they’re able to get away with it quite easily, too. But when they start spreading exaggerated stories on social media, the truth eventually comes out. After all, there’s always someone ready to call them out on their BS.
Enter the Didn’t Happen to the Year Awards (DHOTYA), a Twitter account that exposes and shames the most conspicuous lies shared on the internet. Each year, the most unbelievable tall tales are picked out and pitted against each other, with their 339K followers voting for the biggest liars on social media.
From kids having intellectual moments on politics to people receiving a standing ovation after announcing their opinion, we have collected some of the best posts this account has to offer. Continue scrolling, upvote the finest “didn’t happen” incidents, and share your thoughts in the comments below!
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When you want everyone to know that you're an incel without saying that you're an incel.
Bored Panda reached out to Andrew Selepak, Ph.D., a program coordinator of Master’s in Social Media and a lecturer at the University of Florida, to learn more about why people tell such far-fetched stories online. “Most individuals, brands, and influencers don’t really lie on social media, but they tend to exaggerate,” he told us.
“Everyone engages in self-image manipulation on social media. We highlight and promote our best moments while leaving out the bad or mundane,” Selepak added. “But for the individual user, scrolling through their timeline, it appears that everyone is always doing something exciting whether it is [going] on vacation, getting engaged, or having a child.”
Selepak explained that social media allows more people to see the lies and exaggerations others post. “Before social media, a person could tell a lie to another and then the exact opposite lie to someone else, and it is possible no one would know. But you cannot do this on social media because everyone you know finds out at once.”
“If anything, social media may actually limit the amount of outright lying people do anymore because anything they say or post can be refuted by any and all of their followers rather than by one person,” the lecturer said. “Instead, we may perceive people are lying more, not because more lying is occurring on social media, but because we can monitor potential lies from hundreds if not thousands of people at once.”
He noted that the great thing about having the internet in our hands is that collectively, we can expose lies and those who spread them more than ever before. When it comes to spotting these dishonest posts, Selepak mentioned there are two different types: lies and exaggerations.
When it comes to the latter one, most of us tend to blow up the facts on social media: “We post about a meal at a restaurant to show people we are out and take pictures of the food framing it in such a way to make it look more appetizing, or a photo of the restaurant itself to make it look fancier than it is.”
“We could also post to social media about a job promotion and how excited we are while leaving out that we will be working longer hours and have to spend more time away from friends and family,” he continued. “Exaggerations on social media, for the most part, are harmless and act as life updates to our friends and followers.”
Lies on social media are different. Andrew Selepak noted that they can be intentional or unintentional. Like when we see a story criticizing a politician or sports team we don’t like, we will probably share it because we want it to be true: “We aren’t the originator of the lie, but we are spreading it because we didn’t do our due diligence to fact check it first.”
Yet, this is not as bad as being the creator of a lie. “Politicians, internet trolls, and influencers spread lies about issues like COVID-19, their political party or the opposition, or and other major political issues, to manipulate the public.” These posts are dangerous because such people have a greater reach and thus their lies can be further spread by individuals who want to believe it’s true.
“This is how fake news spreads,” Selepak explained. “But it can be difficult to combat fake news because as individuals we often don’t have reach as influencers. We can debunk and dispute lies, but not as many people will see it, and some might be more willing to believe the lie than the truth.”
Disputing fabrications publicly also rarely works because “you could be attacked for being partisan” or doubting something others wants to believe to be true. “And no one likes to be called out publicly for lying. Instead, it is better to send a direct message or speak to someone offline about lies they are spreading, present accurate information, and hope they will take down their post or at least be less willing to share lies in the future.”
We are all impacted by dishonesty on social media. “When people, and especially young girls, see the fake body images presented on social media as the norm and forget that what they see on social media is not real, it impacts how they see their body, the bodies of others, and what they idealize as the beauty standard,” the lecturer explained. “This is unhealthy and can lead to anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.”
While social media is full of dishonesty, “we cannot expect the platforms to remove all of this content, nor should we want them to. Social media should be a free speech space where ideas are debated and lies are publicly disputed,” Andrew Selepak said.
Dr. Cortney Warren told Bored Panda that when it comes to social media, people usually “lie by presenting an image of themselves and their lives that reflects what they wish were true.” A board-certified clinical psychologist, a nationally recognized expert in self-deception, and author of Lies We Tell Ourselves: The Psychology of Self-Deception thinks that the anonymity and lack of direct face-to-face interaction make it easier for people to pretend.
“You can essentially say whatever you want online—whether it’s objectively true or not—and not really have very serious consequences for it.” The professor of Psychiatry at the UNLV School of Medicine explained that this way people are “able to project an image or a statement without many of the nuances of non-verbal and interpersonal cues that indicate lying in person.”
if you gonna lie about your kid make it believable like something a 10 year old might actually say
She mentioned that in terms of spotting dishonesty, people should go into all online material with a critical thinking cap on. To evaluate whether a statement is true, people should ask questions. “First, consider the source—do they have a vested personal interest in presenting information a certain way? Then consider the perspective taken—are they able to articulate the other side of an argument? Also, look for self-deception. Are they in denial? Rationalizing? Projecting?”
“Although selective self-presentation and lying about ourselves on social media may not seem like a surprise (or even a big deal), it can affect us greatly,” Warren noted. “Humans are naturally social creatures—we crave relationships and social interaction. … We want to feel connected to people and “in the know” about our friends, family, and even celebrities. We crave connectedness. So, we want to interact with people and social media offers us one way to do that.”
We also tend to trust that others are being honest with us: “A large body of research suggests that we are programmed to trust others. Although the reasons for [this] are complex, without interpersonal connectedness and a fundamental belief that those around will support you, protect you, and treat you respectfully, we feel unsafe.”
So when people are dishonest on social media, it causes problems because we internally presume that what is presented is true. “That people are naturally as good-looking as their photos appear. … That people around us are in a habitual state of going on vacation, eating out, and parenting blissfully. This is clearly not true,” the psychologist explained.
“And although we are less aware of the realities of other people’s lives, we are well aware of the ways in which our own lives are NOT ideal,” Dr. Cortney Warren told us. When we compare ourselves with “the idealized images and unreasonably positive life accounts that tend to permeate social media, we are likely to feel more poorly about ourselves and our lives.”
As a New Zealander I say, dream on lady. We don't give a damn about you so get your head out of your a**e.
I stayed in New Zealand for a couple of months in Dunedin and Wellington. I have to say that not one person gave a crap that I was American. In fact it seemed to count against me.
Load More Replies...Little does she know, in that part of NZ, they clap loudly to exorcize evil spirits.
Indeed, the natives OVER there still dwelling in the dark ages
Load More Replies...As an American, I can't imagine a scenario where this would happen in any country for any reason ever. This is so stupid it makes my eyeballs constrict.
It doesnt. A closer scenario is eye rolls or dirty looks.
Load More Replies...Haha here in NZ that actually is a sarcastic clap, meaning we all think you're a twat.
I mean, according to the tweet thread, it was about getting Trump out of office. So...they are clapping because they think we are twats for voting him out?? And, I had always heard NZers were rather open minded...but you think someone is a "twat" just for their nationality? Without even knowing them? Wow. Fighting against that type of bigotry here in the US as much as I can.
Load More Replies...So I just googled this and to my surprise, this tweet is just half-wrong. The main problem is, it is out of context.
....Coming from Amanda Palmer I'd assume there is more context to this, because she's usually pretty smart and this makes no damn sense.
Amy Mayhem's explanation makes sense. The people in the bar were celebrating Trump's election defeat. Lots of people around the world celebrated that.
Load More Replies...I was a big fan of her work in my angsty goth teen years, so knowing her style this definitely surprised me until I saw the date of the post. She's not saying New Zealanders just trip over themselves to applaud Americans. She's saying everyone celebrated Trump leaving office. Now, did it actually happen as described here? Probably not, but all y'all completely missed the point. Edit: I was wondering what she was up to these days and this tweet randomly happened to come up in an interview. Turns out it actually did happen, since she and the barristas had talked about the inauguration the previous day.
So I looked into this because I actually really like Amanda Palmer and this seemed odd. Yes, it is about Biden’s inauguration. Yes, she is an American citizen and most likely voted in that election. She was on tour the beginning of 2020 and was in NZ when the country went under lockdown. I imagine the coffeeshop people knew her as an American tourist who was in NZ as a consequence of said lockdowns/travel bans.
What was she wearing or doing that made them know she was American by looking at her? I mean, she didn't say she had spoken to them first!
A t-shirt with a crying eagle superimposed over an American flag and a diabetes medical alert bracelet.
Load More Replies...You realize this is AMANDA PALMER right!? This not only did happen she isn't just some random crazy American, she is very well known and there were a ton of witnesses. When she says "not really knowing me" she means personally. They knew who she was.
WTF? The unmitigated arrogance! I can't think of one country that welcomes Americans with enthusiasm.
Half of Cuba does..at least the ones who reside now in Florida
Load More Replies...As an American who has traveled overseas a few times...no other country applauds you. You get dirty looks eye rolls and scoffs. XD
Só.. now onwards travel only whitin your huge n beautifull homeland. Do not give a dam s**t or dollars to ungratefull foreigners
Load More Replies...As a matter of fact, Amanda Palmer is a well-known writer, composer, and performer. She's been stuck in NZ now with her son Ash for something like 2 years, since her world tour ended there just as pandemic travel restrictions clamped down. She's married to author Neil Gaiman. He managed to get back to the UK for a while because he was central to a major event that was being set up there, whose cancellation would have cost the city and region a truckload of pay and tourist ££; he got back afterwards. I follow Ada on Patreon, which is how I know this. She's become fairly recognizable in the area of NZ she's living in now, so this report is not surprising. I have to give DHOTYA an F on this for not fact-checking.
Person lying in the lie: does nothing at all. Everyone else in the lie: Spontaneous applause. Makes complete sense.
Probably because someone had just told a joke about Americans and you walked in. Perfect timing.
This should be on History Channel, together with all the aliens that build ancient temples and sasquatches using time portals to hide.
New Zealanders don't spontaneously applaud at things. It's a specifically American, we find it weird. It didn't happen
New Zealanders don't all suddenly applaud. it's a real american thing. and it's really weird. it didn't happen
Why would this even happen? Why don't people get that the US is not the rockstar of the world it believes itself to be. I am American and it's embarrassing.
First just look at the date. 14 days ago the US capital got stormed by conservative redneck idiots and trumpheads with semi automatic weapons over the ultimate idiot who is a sore loser and embarrassement of this country. Being American isn't all what it's cracked up to be these days, and other countries know that. But nice try.
Not only is this utter nonsense, it is embarrassing utter nonsense. (As an American, this gives me second-hand embarrassment!)
If they did applaud, its only because they were amazed that we Americans still exist, and haven't wiped ourselves out.
Wtf lmao applause for being an American? What the hell kind of s**t are you smokin, lady?
So...they just broke into applause without anyone saying a word, just because an American walked into the shop? Riiiiiiiggggghhhhhttt...
People outside the US, do not like America. This would be a wee bit more believed if it was ANY other non American tourist.
Of course, the Allblacks had just scored but I'm sure that had nothing to do with it
How many times are you going to repeat yourself? Who cares who this woman is or who she's married to? She's nobody to many obviously!
Well they were impressed that she could walk and talk at the same time.
There are a lot of ignorant people on this thread. The writer of this tweet is Amanda Palmer. She is a famous singer/songwriter who is also married to Neil Gaiman. I would be very surprised if she wasn't taking the piss with this tweet.
Yes, from the richest country in the world with the poorest citizens...
Being American it's times like these that I really wish we could just move these types of idiots to an island somewhere far away...
They 'idiot' is a very famous singer/songwriter who is also married to Neil Gaiman. She certainly does more for the good look of your country than you do. And she was almost certainly taking the piss.
Load More Replies...... and there goes another flock of kiwis flying south for the winter!
She's a musician, probably best known for her band Dresden Dolls. Married to Neil Gaiman. Pretty famous within certain circles
Load More Replies...There are a lot of other people in the queue before Amanda P that msje your country look stupid.
Load More Replies...I laughed at this one, if only because they used all those emojis to get their "point" across...
“Look! A woman from a country that doesn’t care about anyone else in the world, and who can’t tell us apart from Australians! Our hero!” Clap clap clap…
So Brexit happened because 10 year olds really wanted it. Makes sense....
We all lie—and on social media, this is rampant. “Often, people do it to try to project an image of what they wish were true. To make ourselves look more beautiful. Smarter. More successful. As though we have a more fun life!”
“Although lying to others is not something I would encourage you to do, the greater journey is to become fully honest with yourself,” Warren advised. “If you catch yourself in the act of lying, pause. Ask yourself why you are doing it. As you understand what’s motivating your lies, you can be more honest with yourself about who you want to be and how you want to act.”
The point is that there's 146 of those two-tone eggs (all sold in alu wrapper so indistinguishable), and if you find BUT NOT EAT them you can enter in a competition for £10K (so arguably, one is worth £68.5 if uneaten). They are sold only between Christmas and Easter.
The few corrupt and useless doctors are the ones that are saying that Covid is just a hoax.
Note: this post originally had 97 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
This list is difficult to read. I feel more angry the more I read. Respect to all who finish it.
Yeah, I got pretty pissed off by some of these as well. I have a 6-months-old baby who can't get vaccinated yet and I absolutely bloody HATE antivaxxers with everything I got. My child, who has no choice in the matter, may die because some selfish idiot chose not to get the jab.
Load More Replies...I'd had enough bullshite by the time I got to the 20s. If you believe any of these are true, I know a used car salesman who'd love to meet you.
The lame fanfiction I used to write when I was a teenager was more believable than this.
I thought these were just people joking, then by the comments realise we are expected to believe them. Are people really that dim?
Everyone wants to feel special. They'll do whatever they need to for other's approval or to give themselves a little bit of superiority even if it's completely false.
My 6 year old niece flew to Poland to cross the boarder and fight for Ukraine. She said she would rather die for freedom than live in an oligarch's world. She learned to fly in 2 days and is the actual Ghost of Kyiv. She sent me a text while she was flying to remind me I need to buy dog food before it runs out. I announced this to a random room I was in and everyone erupted in applause!
I couldn't keep going. This is clearly fabricated to support the mask agenda. Where are all the fake posts made by those who wear masks? You won't see them because they don't want to admit there are idiots on both sides, just the side they don't agree with. Perfect example of propaganda.
I feel that the best way to counter this is just to ignore such tweets/posts/comments, since these articles live off on attention and controversy. Once they realise that these posts have no effects, perhaps they will eventually decrease.
Another clown world article mocking anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers. Ever think that "they" did their research and use common sense. Keep on believing what is told to you by the circus otherwise known as media. Whatever happened to real journalism!?!
What happened to believing science and facts? Just because you didn't get sick doesn't make Covid fake and if masks don't work why do surgeons wear them when they operate? Anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers deserve to be mocked they're the reason we are going on year two of this crap.
Load More Replies...Interesting how so many of these are from anti-vaxxers or anti-mask... Just saying!
I'm once again reminded that antimaskers/antivaxxers are scum of the earth, and that it's perfectly okay to despise them.
Of course they are when you eat up all that liberal propaganda. Yum.
Load More Replies...About 95% of these are total garbage, but a handful of these could have happened. Some just need more context. I've had some stuff happen that NOBODY would believe if I put it on Socmed.
The vaccine makes you dumber!!! Don't take it of you want to keep all common sense!!!... /j
Why do these idiots always talk about their toddler children saying things that obviously never happened? Post after post has been almost nothing but that.
Notice all the hate is being spread by Liberal vax-holes. Not one hateful comment from a Republican or an anti-vaxxer. Whose the one REALLY spreading hate?
I find this debate about CoNvid to be laughable. The very first thing published about it was the paper that described it as "...a more virulent strain of influenza...". The very first thing people do...run to the store and buy up all the bottled water, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer. This makes me a firm believer in the Wizard's First Rule... People are stupid.
This list is difficult to read. I feel more angry the more I read. Respect to all who finish it.
Yeah, I got pretty pissed off by some of these as well. I have a 6-months-old baby who can't get vaccinated yet and I absolutely bloody HATE antivaxxers with everything I got. My child, who has no choice in the matter, may die because some selfish idiot chose not to get the jab.
Load More Replies...I'd had enough bullshite by the time I got to the 20s. If you believe any of these are true, I know a used car salesman who'd love to meet you.
The lame fanfiction I used to write when I was a teenager was more believable than this.
I thought these were just people joking, then by the comments realise we are expected to believe them. Are people really that dim?
Everyone wants to feel special. They'll do whatever they need to for other's approval or to give themselves a little bit of superiority even if it's completely false.
My 6 year old niece flew to Poland to cross the boarder and fight for Ukraine. She said she would rather die for freedom than live in an oligarch's world. She learned to fly in 2 days and is the actual Ghost of Kyiv. She sent me a text while she was flying to remind me I need to buy dog food before it runs out. I announced this to a random room I was in and everyone erupted in applause!
I couldn't keep going. This is clearly fabricated to support the mask agenda. Where are all the fake posts made by those who wear masks? You won't see them because they don't want to admit there are idiots on both sides, just the side they don't agree with. Perfect example of propaganda.
I feel that the best way to counter this is just to ignore such tweets/posts/comments, since these articles live off on attention and controversy. Once they realise that these posts have no effects, perhaps they will eventually decrease.
Another clown world article mocking anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers. Ever think that "they" did their research and use common sense. Keep on believing what is told to you by the circus otherwise known as media. Whatever happened to real journalism!?!
What happened to believing science and facts? Just because you didn't get sick doesn't make Covid fake and if masks don't work why do surgeons wear them when they operate? Anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers deserve to be mocked they're the reason we are going on year two of this crap.
Load More Replies...Interesting how so many of these are from anti-vaxxers or anti-mask... Just saying!
I'm once again reminded that antimaskers/antivaxxers are scum of the earth, and that it's perfectly okay to despise them.
Of course they are when you eat up all that liberal propaganda. Yum.
Load More Replies...About 95% of these are total garbage, but a handful of these could have happened. Some just need more context. I've had some stuff happen that NOBODY would believe if I put it on Socmed.
The vaccine makes you dumber!!! Don't take it of you want to keep all common sense!!!... /j
Why do these idiots always talk about their toddler children saying things that obviously never happened? Post after post has been almost nothing but that.
Notice all the hate is being spread by Liberal vax-holes. Not one hateful comment from a Republican or an anti-vaxxer. Whose the one REALLY spreading hate?
I find this debate about CoNvid to be laughable. The very first thing published about it was the paper that described it as "...a more virulent strain of influenza...". The very first thing people do...run to the store and buy up all the bottled water, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer. This makes me a firm believer in the Wizard's First Rule... People are stupid.