Star YouTuber, streamer, but also now a mountaineer, Inoxtag has taken on the challenge of climbing Mount Everest. He announced, on April 1, in an X post, that he would be leaving in a few days. Since leaving France and the internet, numerous low-level rumors are stirring the web : the YouTuber would be dead.
Fake videos are circulating on this subject on Twitter and TikTok, montages which use the codes of BFMTV and deepfakes, where we see some of his friends testifying to his death. One of these videos has more than 4 million views. Let’s see together why these rumors are indeed fake news.
► Inoxtag has not yet started its rise
The noise started to spread before Inoxtag started up. The YouTuber will only attack the ascent itself around May 5. The YouTuber arrived in Nepal on April 10. Since then, he has increased his number of hikes to acclimatize to the altitude and will only leave depending on favorable weather conditions.
► Denials from his team
Mathis Dumas, mountain guide and friend of Inoxtag, responded to the rumors Monday April 17 through the YouTuber’s community broadcast channel: “ Do not worry ! Everything is fine, don’t listen to the rumors and haters » he writes. If Inoxtag has stopped being active on the networks since his departure in order to avoid images being broadcast before the release of his documentary, Mathis Dumas remains active to reassure Internet users.
► More than a year of intensive preparation
Coached by photographer and mountain guide Mathis Dumas, he spent a full year preparing. He explains that he has climbed around fifteen mountains, including the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc: it is obligatory to justify the climb of another peak with a minimum altitude of 6,500 meters. It is also necessary to use an agency experienced in the Himalayan range. Some other Internet users, such as sports trainer Idriss Hanma, say he is ready and aware of the potential dangers to avoid.
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X, snowball effect
X, formerly Twitter, has a snowball effect: some Internet users share messages of condolence and photos of the YouTuber in black and white. Shared, then re-shared, fake news inflates the media bubble. But the YouTuber’s community is also getting organized. Many of them condemn the phenomenon of buzz that some create about the death of a person.
Inoxtag is therefore not dead, and its rise is only just beginning.
