Event · April Fools
The year Google called off April Fools' Day (2020)
Twenty years after MentalPlex, Google suspended its April Fools' pranks. In an internal email obtained by Business Insider, marketing head Lorraine Twohill wrote that the company's highest goal at that moment was to be helpful and asked to save the jokes for the following year. Teams were told to pause smaller jokes too.
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March 2020
April Fools’ 2020 pranks cancelled
Event · April Fools · Concluded
Dates
- March 2020 Announcement · approximate date [1]
What the sources say
| Claim | Record | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reason | Being helpful to people during the pandemic Statement | 3 · Secondary source | [1] secondary |
Historical captures
No archived capture has been located for this record yet.
Sources
- Google Cancels April Fools' Day Plans This Year Due to Coronavirus — Matt G. Southern — Search Engine Journal, March 30, 2020. Source secondary · accessed November 2, 2026 · look for a copy on the Internet Archive
What still needs documenting
- What happened to the tradition in later years
- Full text of the internal email
On GD
GD has followed Google since 2006. Search GD for “primeiro de abril” (in Portuguese)
How to cite
"The year Google called off April Fools' Day (2020)", Google Museum (GD), https://gd.eurisko.com.br/museu/en/collection/sem-pegadinhas-2020/, CC BY 4.0. Reviewed on November 2, 2026.
ID: sem-pegadinhas-2020 · Reviewed on November 2, 2026