Warning: This article contains a spoiler about the magic of Christmas. We advise you to keep your children away from screens.
On the Internet, in fact, it is much more difficult to hide the truth from your children. If your little one is still a little naive about the big red man, it is clear that online, it is entirely possible to discover everything and destroy the magic of Christmas with just one click. This is the observation made by an American, a man named Jake Moore, on November 28. “Can we please ask Google to remove this preview? My 11 year old daughter said she Googled the big question? “, alerted the father on his X account (formerly Twitter).
In the screenshot, the link in question is that of the site “Hotel Chocolat”, a British chocolate manufacturer. On the page “The real story behind Santa Claus”, the merchant site explains: “That dreaded question. Even though the image of Santa Claus brings excitement and amazement to children’s faces, there comes a time when they no longer believe that a bearded man in a red suit leaves presents at the foot of their bed every night before Christmas. Although there is no man in the sky riding a sleigh pulled by reindeer, Santa Claus is not a completely made-up person: the inspiration behind this festive fellow comes from a monk, named Saint Nick, who was revered for his unspeakable generosity and selflessness.”
In comments, parents’ reactions are unanimous: it is not up to the search engine to reveal the truth to children.
Google plays the game
Since this alert, typing the same words as the 11-year-old into the search bar “Is Santa Claus real?” » [est-ce que le père Noël est réel, N.D.L.R.]Google now displays a “on Santa’s trail” widget to visit his village online.
The article from “Hotel Chocolat” is now in third position behind an article from the Parade site which explains that “Santa Claus is a real person”. “According to historical documents, Santa Claus does exist. Santa Claus is real in the sense that he was a real person,” we can read on this site.
In France, the problem is similar. When asked “Does Santa Claus exist?” “, the first result highlighted is the Red Man’s Wikipedia page stating: “Santa Claus is a fictional character linked to the celebration of Christmas but whose roots go back to ancient beliefs.”