Angry parents urge Google to change answer to question: ‘Is Santa real?’ (2024)

It’s hard to keep up the worldwide fib in the age of the World Wide Web.

Parents with young children have always tried to preserve the myth and magical aura of Santa Claus for their kids, but that’s becoming harder as the internet becomes more ubiquitous.

Searching “Is Santa real?” on Google, for example, yields a response from the online chocolate shop Hotel Chocolat that reads: “Whilst there is no man in the sky riding a sleigh pulled by reindeers, Santa Claus isn’t a completely made-up person…”

And the first question after that, in the “People also ask” section, is: “Is Santa real or is it your parents?” The top response comes from the motherhood website Her View From Home.

“The answer is no. We are not Santa. There is no one, single Santa. We are the people who fill your stocking and choose and wrap the presents under the tree — just as our parents did for us, their parents did for them and you will do for your kids someday,” the excerpt reads.

So parents are turning to — where else — the internet, specifically social media, to air their frustrations about Google’s Scroogey spoilers.

Jake Moore, a UK-based global cybersecurity adviser, took issue with the Hotel Chocolat answer, writing on X last week that his 11-year-old daughter googled “Is father christmas real?”

“Can we please ask @Google to take down this Rich Snippet!” Moore asked.

The Post has reached out to Google reps for comment.

A Google search Monday of the question “Is father Christmas real?” actually first highlights an excerpt from Parade that reads: “According to historical records, Santa is real. Santa is real in the sense that he was an actual person. Otherwise known as Saint Nicholas, his story goes all the way back to the 3rd century.”

Nevertheless, Google still tops the naughty list for some parents.

“Jersey Shore” star Jenni “JWoww” Farley — who has a 9-year-old daughter, Meilani, and a 7-year-old son, Greyson — tweeted last week, “Hey @google just a thought … how about if someone googles ‘Is Santa real?’ the top choices say he is during the holidays. Just a thought for all the kiddos on their iPads being curious.”

Someone responded to the TV personality’s post, arguing that “at stores, Elf on a Shelf shouldn’t be out on display. Parents should have to ask for it.”

A controversial product, the elf is moved about by parents while children sleep to encourage good behavior.

Digital assistants, meanwhile, seem to sleigh it more than Google.

“All I know is that someone has been eating all my cookies,” Amazon’s Alexa responded when a Post reporter asked if Santa is real.

Siri, for her part, said, “Well, those cookies don’t eat themselves.”