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Microsoft Bans April Fools' Day Pranks From This Year

Microsoft Bans April Fools' Day Pranks From This Year

By Harpreet Singh | Updated: 28 March 2019 14:42 IST

Microsoft will not indulge in April Fools' Day pranks from this year

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Highlights

Microsoft has banned April Fools' Day pranks from 2019
A leaked internal memo says such pranks are useless
The company feels such pranks have very little positive impact

You may hate (or love) April Fools' Day pranks, but tech companies surely love them. Big or small, pranks from major tech companies have become pretty common over the last several years. It's a day when companies promise out-of-the-world products and services, and, unfortunately, some people actually end up falling for them. While some pranks are purely hilarious, some seem very close to being real. But Microsoft is finally taking a stand against it.

Microsoft is putting an end to April Fools' Day pranks. In an internal memo, obtained and verified by The Verge, Microsoft's marketing head Chris Capossela has asked everyone in the company to not indulge in any 'public-facing April Fools' Day stunts'.

In his memo, Capossela claims such pranks have a very limited positive impact and can result in 'unwanted news cycles'. While most people on the Internet have now grown used to such pranks, it's still hard to filter out the real news on April Fools' Day when everyone is throwing all sorts of silly pranks at you.

Microsoft's move seems to make a lot of sense, especially in the age of social media where fake news takes just a few minutes to spread around. In his memo, Capossela, further adds, "I appreciate that people may have devoted time and resources to these activities, but I believe we have more to lose than gain by attempting to be funny on this one day."

April Fools' Day pranks have been going around in the tech circles since the early 2000s. Google was probably one of the first few major tech companies to participate in such jokes every year. Others were quick to follow up with their own pranks in the years to follow.

But not all pranks end well. Some major April Fools' Day pranks have backfired while others have made a lot of people LOL (laugh out loud) for real, over the years. With Microsoft not participating this year, it'll be interesting to see if other tech companies will follow their footsteps.

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Further reading: Microsoft, April Fools Day 2019

Harpreet Singh

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Harpreet is the community manager at Gadgets 360. He loves all things tech, and can be found hunting for good deals when he is not shopping online. He has written about deals and e-commerce in India for many years, as well as covering social media and breaking technology news. More