UPDATE 13:50 UTC: This article has been updated to rectify inaccuracies in our original reporting.
CoinDesk has become the apparent victim of a Telegram hoax, in which an unknown individual sought to spread misinformation by posing as Ted Livingston, CEO of messaging startup Kik.
CoinDesk regrets the error and the publication of the original story.
Related: Kik Messaging App to Shut Down Following SEC Lawsuit Against ICO
The company has since said that Livingston was on an international flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Washington, D.C., en route to Toronto, at the time CoinDesk believed it was speaking to the executive and was not making use of the available internet connection.
Livingston was not immediately available for comment, but did issue a message on Twitter denying he was considering leaving the company over stresses from ongoing legal action against U.S. regulators. It read: “I just landed in Washington. I took off from Tel Aviv 12 hours ago. This is obviously fabricated. I’m not sure how Coindesk could make such an obvious mistake, but we’ll find out.”
The company has provided Livingston’s official Telegram username, which is not the account with which CoinDesk communicated.
In the wake of news Kik had laid off the majority of its Israel-based development team, our reporter sought to contact representatives of the company, finding a Telegram handle operating under the username “Ted E Bear” and bearing the likeness of Livingston.
Related: WATCH: Ted Livingston Discusses Kik’s Response to the SEC
In response to questions about the incident at the company, the account provided what appeared to be official statements on the news that Kik is shutting down. At the time, our reporter contacted representatives of Kik to verify the statements given on Telegram.
Press messages to Livingston’s Kik email, as well as the company’s formal press and contact emails went unreturned.
A Kik representative later reached out to clarify part of the story that indicated the Kin Foundation was shutting down along with the Kik messenger, as stated in our original article. The article was corrected to indicate only the Kik messenger is shutting down, not the non-profit overseeing its cryptocurrency KIN.
The company did not indicate at the time that Livingston was traveling or raise suspicion about the language used in the article that suggested our reporter had talked to the CEO.
The messages issued by the false account were identical to those from a Medium post issued by Livingston in the wake of the news, describing the number of monthly active users at the company and affirming Kik’s stance that the move was the result of its ongoing battles with the SEC.