Ridiculous hoax about Earth going in darkness in November

Tweet

I saw what seemed an intriguing piece of news today: that in November the Earth would be plunged in total darkness because of a rare alignment of planets. However, by reading farther, it was clear that the rumor was totally bogus: NASA has released a communique that Venus would be intersecting Jupiter's orbit and causing a solar eclipse? Let's be serious: except for an April Fool's Day, it is impossible that any such news could have been emitted by any authority having a basic knowledge in astronomy. It is common-sensical that Venus is really close to the Sun, while Jupiter is aeons away in the outer fringes of the solar system... so no way they could ever intersect orbits. But how can people be foiled by believing this kind of hoax? This is the more worrying part...