Erratas is an internet hoax about a supposed algorithm that allegedly fires any employee who searches its name at work, wrapped up with claims about corporate mass surveillance[2].

Where did Erratas come from?

The story surfaced in late 2015 through anonymous 4chan posts and a set of obscure YouTube uploads by the Tod Ellsworth channel that included the phrase in a song description[1].

What does Erratas mean?

Erratas is a plural form of the Latin word for 'error' or 'printing mistake,' with the extra 's' making it a little odder than the more common form 'errata'[2].

How do you use Erratas?

Erratas is not a template meme, it circulates as a warning story typically referenced in conversations about corporate surveillance, YouTube copyright takedowns, or 4chan style ARGs[2].

Is Erratas still popular?

Erratas is generally treated as a classic 2015 internet hoax rather than an active investigation today[2].

Erratas

2015internet hoax / creepypastaclassic

Published August 11, 2026

Erratas is an internet mystery about an alleged corporate surveillance algorithm that supposedly fires any employee who searches its name. The story began with a November 2015 4chan post about a mislabeled factory tape gun and grew into a web-wide puzzle involving obscure YouTube videos, hidden addresses in auto-captions, and Morse code clues.

mystery memes conspiracy memes hoax memes 4chan memes surveillance memes

Overview

Erratas, sometimes spelled 'Eratas' to supposedly dodge detection, is an internet hoax built around a mystery algorithm that will allegedly get any employee fired the moment they search its name at work2. The word itself is Latin for 'errors' or 'printing mistakes'2. The Erratas mythology blends anonymous 4chan factory stories with obscure YouTube uploads, a Kentucky Bandcamp band called KFC Murder Chicks1, and Morse code buried inside Jurassic Park tribute videos. Believers treat it as a corporate secret, skeptics call it an alternate reality game or a chain of coincidences.

Origin & Background

Platform

4chan /x/ (YouTube spread)

Creator

Anonymous 4chan user

Date

2015

The earliest tagged mention of the word came on November 21, 2015, when the YouTube channel Tod Ellsworth uploaded a KFC Murder Chicks song with the phrase 'Erratas or Rusts' tucked at the end of the description1. Four days later, on November 25, 2015, an anonymous user on 4chan's /x/ board relayed a woman's story about her new temp factory job3. She said she picked up a tape gun labeled 'Eratas' instead of a normal department name, and a coworker warned her to throw it out and never say the word to a supervisor, because anyone who searched it on a company computer got flagged and fired.

How It Spread

Less than a month later, on December 19, 2015, another 4chan /x/ poster asked whether anyone had done East Coast IT work between 2000 and 2010 and heard of a shady HR-adjacent program called Erratas, floating UPS as one possible user3. The thread jumped to 4chan's /mu/ board in late January 2016 alongside a pitch for a new music genre called 'Deep Internet' built from obscure YouTube snippets.

One linked upload, posted January 23, 2016 by a channel called ChronosForLife JurassicPark and titled 'Youtube is MONITORING and controlling my life,' claimed YouTube's algorithms were targeting the uploader's late mother's Jurassic Park tribute videos3. Viewers later spotted that a follow-up 'bait' video's automatic captions spelled out '200 Corbin KY 40219,' the address once listed on the Bandcamp page for KFC Murder Chicks, the same band featured in Tod Ellsworth's earlier upload1.

How to Use This Meme

Erratas is not a template meme, it is passed around as a spooky story and a dare. People typically bring it up when the conversation touches corporate surveillance, YouTube copyright takedowns, or 4chan style alternate reality games, sometimes daring friends to type the word into a search bar at work.

Frequently Asked Questions

References (3)