THE OWNER of a website that promoted a non-existent Halloween parade in Dublin has insisted it was not a scam.
Thousands of people gathered in O'Connell Street in the Irish capital on Thursday for the event, which was originally listed on a website called myspirithalloween.com.
The details of the event were later shared on social media sites, where it went viral.
However, gardaí were forced to issue a statement saying no parade was taking place and urged revellers to disperse for their own safety.
Apology
In an interview with technology website Wired, the owner of the website said that while his business model is Google Ads and affiliate marketing, the event listing was not a scam.
He claimed that while AI is used to help produce content for the website, human content writers are employed and articles are 'humanized'.
"AI was involved 10 per cent or 20 per cent. We were 80 per cent involved," he told Wired reporter Kaye Knibbs.
"And we apologize to our Irish brothers. We are highly disappointed, highly embarrassed, and honestly, we are feeling bad."
He added: "If we wanted to scam people, we can easily do so by selling fake tickets. But we never mentioned any tickets on the website."
People waiting for a halloween parade. #Dublin
No Gardai around, no official announcement, people waiting on the wrong side of the road...
Someone did pull a big #hoax #Prank pic.twitter.com/zTQUShZrya
— Artur Martins (@arturmartins) October 31, 2024
In a separate interview with BBC News NI, the website owner attributed the mistake to human error.
He claimed a content writer unwittingly used details of an event from a previous year, not realising it was not taking part this Halloween.
However, despite admitting the error, he appeared to imply the onus was on people in Ireland to notify the site that the non-existent event that no one in Ireland had planned was not taking place.
"No one in Ireland informed us that this parade was not going to happen," he told BBC News NI.
"If they told us before the evening we would have removed it."
He added that the article was removed immediately once they were alerted that the event was not real.
'Please disperse'
As crowds gathered in O’Connell Street on Thursday, it eventually became apparent that no event was going to take place.
With thousands lining the busy thoroughfare, gardaí issued a statement urging people to disperse for safety reasons.
"Please be advised that contrary to information being circulated online, no Halloween parade is scheduled to take place in Dublin City Centre this evening or tonight," read the statement.
"All those gathered on O'Connell Street at present, in expectation of such a parade are asked to please disperse safely."
In a later statement, gardaí urged the public to always verify information regarding upcoming events 'from trusted and reputable sources'.
"Public information on major events including traffic management, transport and public safety advice is often available on the Garda website, Dublin City Council website and from other relevant stakeholders," they added.
