When Boris Johnson announced a minimum 3-week lockdown in the UK on 23rd March, there were many concerns about the future. But for students, one of the biggest worries was having to go from living with your friends full-time to suddenly not seeing them every day anymore.

But then Houseparty stepped in to save the day. While platforms like Zoom were used for online lectures and seminars, Houseparty became a way to have your friends over without actually having them over. With Houseparty, you could see when your friends were online and easily join them in big group video calls, which were open to anyone unless you ‘locked the room’ to prevent strangers joining the call. It was essentially a group Face Time, with the added benefit of being able to play games through the app, too. In short, it was the second best thing to seeing your friends in real life.

It wasn’t long before people were claiming that since downloading Houseparty, they were suddenly having various accounts hacked

It felt too good to be true, and perhaps it was: it wasn’t long before people were claiming that since downloading Houseparty, they were suddenly having various accounts hacked, from Spotify to bank accounts. Like school children missing out on playtime because of one or two kids who just won’t stop talking, suddenly it was ruined for everyone. Houseparty was no longer the respite from isolation it had been, providing people with a much needed break from their own company and letting them reminisce on the good times of just a week or two before with their friends. People rushed to delete the app, terrified that their Spotify playlists might be compromised.

And then, in an M. Night Shyamalan level plot twist, Houseparty announced their belief that the hacking rumours were a ‘paid commercial smear campaign’, bringing a whole new dynamic to the situation. This was not just an unfortunate situation that brought the lockdown’s brief golden-era to an end, it was corporate sabotage, a planned, malicious attack that came at the cost of quarantine’s socialising opportunities. The scandal played out with all the drama of a Netflix original docuseries: Houseparty promised that the app was safe, and offered a million dollar bounty to the first individual who could provide proof of a paid commercial smear campaign.

The BBC reported that experts have said it’s likely that any alleged breaches are not linked to the app itself

Their claim that the rumours are false does not seem that farfetched: Houseparty has been around since 2016, and has not faced claims of hacking before. Additionally, it is owned by Epic Games, a well-established software company, and the BBC reported that experts have said it’s likely that any alleged breaches are not linked to the app itself, but rather are coincidental.

But the damage was already done. People had deleted the app in swathes, and no one trusted it anymore. When asked if she would redownload Houseparty, Nicole, a student from University of Birmingham, said, “’Probably not personally. Although it might have been a smear campaign (or so they claim) I feel like several friends have all had something similar happen. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.’ Houseparty’s core audience had been shattered by a few false rumours, just like that.

This scandal reminds us that there is a dark side to the internet

The internet has been a godsend during these difficult, lonely times, whether that be for helping you stay active through fitness social media accounts, talking to friends and family who you can’t see in person anymore, or just binging Netflix to pass the time. But this scandal reminds us that there is a dark side to the internet, too.

Unsubstantiated rumours can spread like wildfire, and while this particular one was not especially harmful, many others are. In such uncertain times, the last thing we need is to be bombarded with false rumours and fake news, and yet it seems that is what’s happening.  A few false rumours about a social media app isn’t the end of the world, but false information about serious current issues is a little more dangerous, and it’s easy to fall into the trap of sharing something that isn’t true. Even world leaders do it; Facebook and Twitter have recently deleted posts by the Brazilian and the Venezuelan presidents spreading misinformation about coronavirus.

False rumours can often spread faster than real news

There is a lot of contradictory information circulating at the moment, which can be overwhelming and stressful in a time when we are all already stressed enough as it is. If you take anything from the Houseparty hacking saga, let it be this: false rumours can often spread faster than real news. Be careful what you read and what you believe, and if you need to, take a break from reading anything at all. It’s important to look after your mental health, and sometimes, that can mean tuning out the overload of conflicting information out there and just watching a mindless TV show or having a relaxing bath.

Look after yourself, and don’t take every internet rumour at face value.