Conspiracy theories about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump have received tens of millions of views on X, researchers said Tuesday, highlighting the potential for extreme falsehoods to go viral on Elon Musk’s platform.
The social networking site, formerly known as Twitter, was flooded with unsubstantiated claims in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that left one spectator dead and a bloodied Trump wounded in the ear.
These included baseless claims that the assassination attempt was “staged” or an “inside job”, while pointing fingers at imaginary culprits such as the Jews and the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency.
Conspiracy theories were viewed more than 215 million times on X, the Center for Combating Digital Hate (CCDH) said after analyzing a sample of 100 popular posts.
The majority of the posts did not feature “Community Note,” a crowd-sourced moderation tool that Musk has promoted as a way for users to add content to tweets, CCDH added.
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In the first 24 hours alone, unsubstantiated accounts surrounding the incident garnered more than 100 million views on X, according to the nonprofit research group Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
X did not respond to a request for comment.
Internet pranksters also falsely identified several people as the perpetrator — including Italian sports journalist Marco Violi, anti-Trump protester Maxwell Yerich and comedian Sam Hyde, AFP fact-checkers said.
Federal investigators have identified the shooter, who was killed at the scene, as Thomas Matthew Crooks of Pennsylvania.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, several social media users expressed confusion as they tried to get accurate information in a sea of false or misleading posts, which quickly gained attention.
The trend shows the ability of hoaxes to mutate into viral political discourse on tech platforms including X, which now offer fewer guardrails as they limit content containment.
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Researchers say some influencer-hunting accounts on the platform have a financial incentive to post sensational falsehoods, as X’s ad revenue sharing program incentivizes extreme content designed to boost engagement.
“In the market for misinformation — which many social media platforms have effectively reduced to a market for lies — extreme content is your currency,” said Imran Ahmed, CEO and founder of CCDH.
“Algorithms take the weirdest content and amplify it exponentially until the entire digital world is flooded with conspiracy, misinformation and hate.”
Researchers have warned of a potential misinformation fire ahead of the November election, which will take place in a deeply polarized political climate in the United States.
“Already, early in the US election cycle, we can see flashing warning signs that social media in the coming weeks and months will be increasingly chaotic and full of misinformation,” Ahmed said.
Source: AFP