CIA and Facebook... No laughing matter.

So I was reading through my Google Reader, of which I’m subscribed to The Onion, and I noticed this headline.

CIA's "Facebook" Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs

But when I clicked on the link, it came back with a 404 Page Not Found.

So I did a search for the exact title of the post.

No luck.

Even a search for just “CIA” comes back with lots of other satirical articles about the CIA, but none connecting the CIA with Facebook.

Two options:

1) Either The Onion is trying to make it seem like they had to take the video down.

2) Or they must have touched a nerve.

UPDATE: Well, it appears the CIA was a little too late to cover up The Onion’s snafu, about their Facebook Initiative.

As dutifully reported above, there was evidence that The Onion posted a supposedly embarrassing revelation about one of the CIA’s black-budget projects. Apparently the CIA tried to cover up this revelation, by simply having the post deleted.

To late!

Unfortunately, the CIA didn’t take into account the efficiency of the RSS Feed Reader of their Google Initiative, which stores and retains information on any post made to a website’s RSS feed. Even if a post is later deleted, there is still a record of it retained by the Google Reader.

Apparently to avoid further embarrassment, it was decided to rely on the reputation of The Onion for it’s satirical content, as a means of denying any validity to the story. The video in question, was later restored to the website, and even written about at All Things Digital.

Facebook Actually a CIA Surveillance Program, Says the Onion

Facebook is a “massive online surveillance program run by the CIA,” conceived as part of the Patriot Act and so successful at information gathering that Congress recently reauthorized its funding, reports the Onion News Network.

All Things Digital | Screenshot

Okay, so I’m being a little funny here, but it is kind of weird that originally the story couldn’t be found, even when you did a search for the exact title of the story, and all the other stories posted that day were available on the website.

Here’s another screenshot of a search, I did at The Onion, for the exact title of the post (just like before), which now shows one result.

UPDATE 2: Now TechCrunch has posted about this. I didn’t know I was on the leading edge of breaking news. I beat these guys by two whole days!

The Onion: Facebook "Is Truly A Dream Come True For The CIA" (Video)

You did know that Facebook is a ‘massive online surveillance program run by the CIA,” right? And that Mark Zuckerberg is a CIA agent codenamed the Overlord? Just watch the Onion video above. It explains the whole thing.

TechCrunch | Screenshot

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