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From FOX News
It didn’t take long for lies and misinformation to spread in the wake of Friday’s Texas school shooting that left 10 people dead. Within minutes, fake Facebook accounts popped up showing the suspected shooter with a doctored image of him wearing a “Hillary 2016” hat, for example.
Some of the fakes were quickly flagged by users and deleted by the social network. But according to Chris Sampson, a disinformation analyst for a counter-terrorism think tank, new fakes were being spawned fast and filled out with false information that included images trying to link the 17-year-old suspect, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, to anti-fascist groups, while others had “Trump/Pence 2020” as his banner image.
The onslaught of fake and false information has become a regular feature in the aftermath of mass shootings and terrorist attacks in the U.S. and elsewhere. The perpetrators are typically trying to sow discord, score political points or simply make readers question the very concept of truth.
Sampson was watching the clock to see how fast it would take for a fake account to be created after law enforcement officials released the suspect’s name: less than 20 minutes. After a second fake account was taken down, another popped up in only four minutes.
COMMENT:-
Fake Facebook accounts, misinformation spread quickly in wake of Santa Fe school shooting
It didn’t take long for lies and misinformation to spread in the wake of Friday’s Texas school shooting that left 10 people dead. Within minutes, fake Facebook accounts popped up showing the suspected shooter with a doctored image of him wearing a “Hillary 2016” hat, for example.
Some of the fakes were quickly flagged by users and deleted by the social network. But according to Chris Sampson, a disinformation analyst for a counter-terrorism think tank, new fakes were being spawned fast and filled out with false information that included images trying to link the 17-year-old suspect, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, to anti-fascist groups, while others had “Trump/Pence 2020” as his banner image.
The onslaught of fake and false information has become a regular feature in the aftermath of mass shootings and terrorist attacks in the U.S. and elsewhere. The perpetrators are typically trying to sow discord, score political points or simply make readers question the very concept of truth.
Sampson was watching the clock to see how fast it would take for a fake account to be created after law enforcement officials released the suspect’s name: less than 20 minutes. After a second fake account was taken down, another popped up in only four minutes.
COMMENT:-
Totally despicable conduct.
Totally expected conduct.
Totally reprehensible conduct.
Totally normal conduct.
Totally expected conduct.
Totally reprehensible conduct.
Totally normal conduct.