A 2014 survey by coupon site Vouchercloud found that 11% of Americans surveyed thought HTML was a sexually transmitted disease—though the poll was designed more for laughs than scientific accuracy.
11% of Americans Thought HTML Was an STD
In early 2014, a statistic swept across the internet like wildfire: 11% of Americans think HTML is a sexually transmitted disease. News outlets, late-night hosts, and social media users had a field day mocking American tech illiteracy. But the real story behind this viral moment is almost as entertaining as the statistic itself.
The Survey That Launched a Thousand Jokes
The poll came from Vouchercloud, a British coupon and deals website. They surveyed 2,392 Americans, asking them to identify various tech terms—and threw in some fake ones for good measure.
The results were comedic gold:
- 11% thought HTML (a web coding language) was an STD
- 77% couldn't identify what SEO means
- 27% thought a "gigabyte" was an insect commonly found in South America
- 42% said they believed a "motherboard" was the deck of a cruise ship
- 23% thought MP3 was a Star Wars robot
If those numbers seem suspiciously ridiculous, that's because the survey was never meant to be taken seriously.
PR Stunt or Legitimate Research?
Let's be clear: this wasn't peer-reviewed academic research. It was a marketing survey designed to generate headlines—and it worked spectacularly. Vouchercloud got millions of dollars worth of free publicity as the story spread from tech blogs to mainstream news.
The methodology was questionable at best. Online surveys with multiple-choice answers often produce unreliable results. Some respondents likely clicked random answers. Others may have been joking. A few might have genuinely confused HTML with something else.
But here's the thing: it doesn't really matter. The survey tapped into a real cultural anxiety about technological literacy and our collective fear of looking stupid.
Why We Wanted to Believe It
The statistic spread because it confirmed what many people already suspected: Americans are bad at tech. It let tech-savvy folks feel superior. It gave everyone else permission to laugh at a faceless group of confused respondents.
The reality is more nuanced. Most people don't need to know what HTML stands for (Hypertext Markup Language, if you're curious). Not knowing technical jargon doesn't make someone stupid—it just means they work in a different field.
Still, confusing a coding language with a sexually transmitted infection is a pretty spectacular mix-up. HTML and HPV do share some letters, after all.
The Legacy of the HTML Survey
A decade later, this survey remains one of the most-cited examples of tech illiteracy—even though it was essentially a joke that got out of hand. It's been referenced in countless articles, mentioned in tech education discussions, and probably caused at least a few people to Google "what is HTML" just to make sure.
The Vouchercloud survey accidentally created an important lesson: always check the source. A funny statistic from a coupon website shouldn't be treated the same as findings from a research university. But in the viral news ecosystem, entertainment value often trumps scientific rigor.
So the next time you see a shocking poll result, remember the great HTML-STD confusion of 2014. And maybe double-check who conducted the survey before sharing it.