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FACT BRIEF

Does a video give proof that John McAfee is alive?

By Alexis Tereszcuk
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NO

John McAfee died in a Spanish prison on June 23, 2021, according to authorities, and an autopsy confirmed he died by suicide in his prison cell in Barcelona.

There is no publicly available evidence to contradict the Spanish authorities' autopsy or to prove that McAfee is still alive, and a video on social media making that claim offers no proof. It is simply one person talking in a monologue embellished with ominous music and a stock photo image of McAfee from 2019.

The prison in Barcelona where McAfee died released a statement about his death, and his attorney confirmed he appeared to have hanged himself in the prison, according to Reuters.

The video continues with a claim that McAfee, who created antivirus computer software, had electronic information -- "every terabyte from Clinton to the Pentagon" -- but again the video provides no proof.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Fox Business Tech entrepreneur John McAfee found dead hours after Spanish court approves extradition to US
Reuters Autopsy shows John McAfee died by suicide in Spanish prison cell, newspaper reports
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.