Internet Explorer IQ Study Was Bogus

An alleged study which concluded users of Internet Explorer were less intelligent than users of other browsers is bogus.

AptiQuant, a psychometric consulting company, supposedly released a report on the effects of cognitive ability on the choice of Web browser. The company said it offered the IQ tests to more than a 100,000 people and took the average IQ scores based on the browser on which the test was taken. The result was Internet Explorer users were the dumbest.

It was a fascinating story, picked up by several media outlets, including The International Business Times. Too bad it doesn't appear to be true.

According to the BBC, the whole thing may have been a hoax. AptiQuant only set up their Web site in the past month and the staff images were stolen from a legitimate company in Paris named Central Test.

The article was questioned by Cambridge University's Statistical Laboratory professor David Spiegelhalter, who said the figures AptiQuant provided were "implausibly low." He told BBC they were "an insult" to Internet Explorer users.

After the story on Internet Explorer users, AptiQuant followed that up with another story claiming it was threatened with a lawsuit from Internet Explorer users. Leonard Howard, chief executive of AptiQuant, claims he received hate mail from Internet Explorer users.

What's not clear is if Leonard Howard actually exists or if this is someone pulling a prank.

AptiQuant didn't respond to a request for comment.

Follow Gabriel Perna on Twitter at @GabrielSPerna