Did NASA confirm the Earth will go dark for six days?

The claim: A message says NASA has confirmed that the Earth will be plunged into "six days of total darkness" because of a solar storm, and tells people to stock up on candles and food.

It came back into my family's group last week, word for word. It is one of the oldest hoaxes on the internet.

What we found

• The story started in December 2014 on Huzlers, a website that publishes made-up news, and falsely quoted NASA's administrator at the time.
• NASA said the story was a hoax and that it had never issued any such statement.
• New versions have appeared almost every year with new dates. Fact-checkers including Lead Stories debunked the version that circulated in December 2020.

Verdict

False. NASA has never announced six days of darkness. Solar storms can disturb satellites and power grids, but they don't block out the Sun.

Tip: when a message says "NASA confirms" or "WHO confirms", check that organisation's own website. Real announcements are always published there.