Your guide to spotting fake news after mass shootings
In the immediate aftermath of mass shootings, the frequency of faked news and misinformation increases significantly.
The misinformation is often a combination of intentional trolling, baseless “false flag” themed conspiracy theories and mistakes by media outlets vying to be the first to break new information to a public who have come to expect instant news.
Here we outline some simple steps on how to avoid fake news in the direct aftermath of mass shootings.
Social media posts are NOT news
In the aftermath of mass shootings, people turn to social media in a bid to get their breaking news in real time. However, social media is notoriously unreliable since anyone can publish posts.
Social media is full of Internet trolls, automated bots and users not interested in spreading accurate information. “Breaking news” can very well be entirely false, and it is important to wait for news to be verified before spreading it further. When evaluating whether a social media post is true, take into account who posted it and work out for yourself if they have an agenda that may give them motivation to spread news that isn’t accurate. Many of the points below will expand on this point.
More social media posts will incorrect identify the shooter than correctly identify the shooter
In the minutes and hours after a mass shooting, the chances of the shooter (or shooters) identity being officially released by authorities is slim, meaning social media will be rife with speculation. Previous mass shootings have demonstrated that many are willing to intentionally spread false information regarding the identity of the shooter, while others will spread false information by mistake.
This will inevitably result in – for the first few hours after a shooting – more incorrectly posts identifying a shooter than correct posts.
Many innocent people have previously seen both their photo and name spread virally across social media incorrectly identifying them as a shooter. As such we recommend never spreading any such posts purporting to identify a shooter until they have been officially identified by authorities.
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Mass shooting will be politicized online
Mass shootings in the US are inevitably politicised by many since they are directly related to many controversial issues in the United States, namely gun control. As a consequence, a combination of bots, Internet trolls and certain social media users will attempt to spread unverified information, speculation or simply fabricated information that will attempt to link the shooting or shooter to various political groups.
For example, posts in the past have continually attempted to link shootings to groups such as the NRA, or Antifa. Other fake posts will attempt to link the shooter with political parties or political figures.
It is important to be aware that such posts and those behind them will have a political agenda, and such posts are usually false. It’s also worth knowing that trolls and pranksters will setup fake social media accounts claiming to belong to the shooter to help propagate false information.
False Flag Crisis Actor conspiracy theories
Silly conspiracy nonsense is an inevitability in the hours after mass shootings, promoted by those who genuinely believe that all (or nearly all) mass shootings that occur across the United States have been staged and never really happened.
As a result, theories such as ones promoting “crisis actors” are extremely popular. We won’t go into much detail into them here, because we have our article on 5 silly conspiracy theories that always follow mass shootings here.
Of course, we don’t recommend spreading conspiracy theories online. We’ve investigated many, and they are simply just rehashed garbage.
Watch out for “missing people” posts
It is specifically online trolls responsible for creating fake “missing people” posts in the aftermath of shootings, or other types of terrorist attacks. Such trolls are simply attempting to make their prank posts go viral, and first started after the Manchester Bombing attack in the UK, though also frequently occur after mass shootings.
The most important aspect to avoiding fake news after mass shootings is to be aware that false information is prolific after such tragic events, especially across social media. This means you should never believe or share any information that comes from sources you don’t have a good reason to trust.
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