I was amused when I read that the article we published yesterday about Internet Explorer users having a lower average IQ than users of other browsers was a hoax. Not because I dislike IE users, but because this would have been the push they needed to, explore other browsers. Unfortunately though, sometimes global news agencies do get it wrong.

In the past 48 hours, many high profile news agencies including CNN, the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, Forbes and the BBC reported on the story that seemed to justify a lot of people’s thoughts about Internet Explorer users.

The BBC has since reported that it received commentary from a few of its readers who were expressing concerns over the authenticity of the story.

As it turns out, the company which put out the research, ApTiquant, appears to have only set up its website during the last month.

The second big indicator that the story was a fabrication was the fact that thumbnail images of the ApTiquant staff on the website also matched those on the site of a French research company called Central Test. Basically many of the names had just been changed.

The ApTiquant article, from which the original 2oceansVibe article originates from, claimed it had invited 100 000 web users to take IQ tests, and then matched their results with the type of browser they used.

The results claimed to show that Internet Explorer users were generally of lower intelligence and were supported with falsified research data in the form of a downloadable PDF file (it luckily contained no malware or viruses).

The BBC has also spoken to Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University’s Statistical Laboratory, who said in an interview:

I believe these figures are implausibly low – and an insult to IE users.

It’s not yet known who is responsible for the elaborate stunt but it just shows that some people really don’t like Internet Explorer users.

[Source: BBC]