假新闻！官方道歉 | 麻省理工门尘埃落定

12月初，莱阳市教育体育局官方微信发布题为“莱阳一14岁少年被美国麻省理工学院录取”的消息。随后，诸多媒体争相对此事进行宣传报道，同时也引来网友对相关官方消息集体找茬，莱阳市教育体育局、莱阳市第二实验中学连同李某家长陷入舆论漩涡。 

最终，莱阳市教育体育局官方微信于12月11日晚间发布澄清消息，“由于我们核实不严，导致12月1日发布的 莱阳第二实验中学李某与美国麻省理工学院成功签约为失实消息。对这一事件给社会公众造成的误导，形成的不良社会影响，我们表示真诚道歉。”

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Chinese local authorities apologize over fake news

Chinese local authorities apologized to the public after it released a fake story about a child prodigy who was allegedly admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

"The news we published was not true," authorities from Education and Sports Bureau of Laiyang City in east China's Shandong Province said in a statement issued on Monday evening. "We are deeply sorry for the careless verification."

MIT Dean of Admissions Stuart Schmill told the Shanghai-based news website the paper.cn that the prominent university in the US will only admit those who apply in formal processes.

According to the news published earlier this month on the official WeChat account of Education and Sports Bureau of Laiyang City, the 14-year-old boy Li Xiangnan from the Second Experimental School of Laiyang received a place at MIT on October 13, 2017. "As a student being enrolled at one of the top universities in the world, Li is the record youngest."

Li also claimed he was admitted to the college in an online video.

However, people quickly believed Li's experience to be a clear lie, after internet users pointed out their doubts on social media platforms.

Firstly, Li claimed he was enrolled to a one-year course, but MIT doesn't offer this option.

Secondly, according to public documents shown by the boy, the admission letter from MIT was written in Chinese, the email senders are all David Lee, while the recipients are all "my mailbox", which is suspicious.

Thirdly, the news report said Li got "the medal award issued by the international competition ACPC held by Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)", but the certificate is inscribed with "World Trade Organization (WTO)".

What's more, Li's classmates said his test scores were just "fine". "He ranked about 30 or 40 among 60 students in our class," Zhang Weiqiang told Chengdu-based news service Hongxing News.

Despite these questions, authorities insisted the news was true last Friday. "We have seen the photos [of the contract]. Paper documents are on the way of delivery from the US to Laiyang."

The fabricated news also said Li had designed a one-touch motion[一键式] system which could turn the school computers on or off.

It also said Li founded Laiyang Wopu Cloud Computing Limited Company in 2016, which was the first company founded by a student in the city. One year later, he received letters of review from prominent universities in China including Tsinghua University, South China University of Technology and Southern University of Science and Technology.