naure.com
TechnologySurprise 5/5Difficulty 4/5Reviewed on September 13, 2026

The first message sent over the internet was a complete Shakespeare quote.

Why it is true

The first message sent over ARPANET, the predecessor of the internet, was LO on 29 October 1969. The researchers tried to type LOGIN, but the system crashed after the first two letters. The first message was therefore incomplete.

Source: BBC

Would you rather be asked first?

This is the reading side of the site, so the answer is in the sentence above — that is the whole point of it. Test yourself works the other way round: the question comes on its own, and the fact and the explanation only appear once you have answered.

Test yourself →10-question challenge

Related facts

More in Technology

See all →