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Fact check: Claim that Samsung paid Apple $1 billion in truckloads of pennies is satire

Miriam Fauzia   | Paste BN
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The claim: Samsung paid a $1 billion fine to Apple in pennies 

A viral social media post is claiming tech giant Samsung paid Apple a $1 billion fine – but entirely in small change. 

"Samsung pays Apple $1 Billion Fine by sending 42 trucks full of Pennies," reads a graphic shared to Instagram on Oct. 19. The post includes an image of a man overseeing a stream of bronze-colored coins cascading into a large bin. 

The post amassed nearly 40,000 likes in 10 days. Some users expressed surprise about Samsung having to pay a hefty fine to its tech rival. Others remarked the payment method was the cause for a purported "national coin shortage." 

But that's all nonsense. The post's claim is a hoax dating back to 2012 and stems from an article published on a satirical website.    

Paste BN reached out to the Instagram poster for comment. 

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Article originated as satire 

In 2012, following news of Apple filing a lawsuit  accusing  Samsung of design patent infringement, an article appeared on El Deforma, a Spanish-language website that describes itself as a "satirical newspaper whose sole purpose is entertainment." 

The original article joked that Samsung had to pay Apple a "$1 trillion fine," according to Google Translate. The specifics in that version vary slightly from the current post, as it asserted the fine was paid in nickels rather than pennies and took 30 trucks rather than 42.

At some point, the article was mistaken as an authentic news story, leading outlets such as The Guardian and Fortune to debunk the claim.   

The terms of Apple and Samsung's final settlement reached in 2018 were not publicly disclosed, Paste BN reported.

The post's image of the man standing by a container of bright bronze coins also has nothing to do with the tech companies' settlement.

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It was taken by photographer Stephen Hilger on Aug. 8, 2007, well before Samsung and Apple's legal troubles. The photo shows a U.S. Mint worker transferring blank one-cent coins to be struck into pennies in Philadelphia, according to the Getty Images' description. 

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim Samsung paid a $1 billion fine to Apple in pennies. The claim originates from an article published on a Spanish-language satirical website following Apple's lawsuit against Samsung in 2012. The image of a man overseeing a stream of coins into a container that's included in the post is from August 2007 and is unrelated to the tech companies.

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