Noam Chomsky told us to question the media. This week, the media reported he had died

Noam Chomsky has always encouragedpeople to critically question the media,and has written acclaimed books on media control and propaganda.

Then, yesterday,several media outlets reported the famed linguist and activist'sdeath when he was, in fact, still alive. The irony hasn't been lost to people online, who are having a field dayover the swirl of misinformation.

"RIP Noam Chomsky, you wrote books about questioning the media and 1 unsourced tweet says you are dead x," user Juan Mac wrote on X.

"Noam Chomsky has gotta be like wow these assholes really learned nothing I said about not trusting unverified media sources," wrote X user Hannah Riley.

"Noam Chomsky's wife says that he is still alive. But X user @billackman1488 isn't so sure," wrote the satire account New York Times Pitchbot.

Chomsky, 95,had been hospitalized in Brazil while recovering from a strokesuffered a year ago, his wife, Valeria Chomsky, told TheAssociated Presslast week. Then,the Beneficencia Portuguesa hospital in Sao Paulo said in a statement that Chomsky was discharged on Tuesday to continue his treatment at home.

From there, Chomsky started trending on X as false reports of his death circulated.

Jacobin and The New Statesman published obituaries for Chomsky, though the former changed its headline from "We Remember Noam Chomsky" to "Let's Celebrate Noam Chomsky." By Wednesday, the link to the Jacobin story no longer existed, and the outlet's tweethadbeen amended with reader context.

The New Statesman took its essay by former Greek finance ministerYanis Varoufakisdown altogether. Brazilian news site Diario do Centro do Mundo also took down its story announcing Chomsky's death and issued a correction.

On Tuesday,Chomsky's wifesaid reports her husband had died are untrue.

"No, it is false," she wrote Tuesday in response to an emailed query from The Associated Press.

The Chomskys have had a residence in Brazil since 2015. Noam Chomsky, known to millions for his criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, taught for decades at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2017, he joined the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

And, atleast right now, he is still alive.

"Noam Chomsky died like he lived: being alive," wrote user Cody Johnston on X.

WATCH | Chomsky interviewed by CBC in 2006:

Noam Chomsky

16 years ago

Duration 6:29

If you like your critics raw as sushi. Noam Chomsky is your man.