Fake Facebook accounts and online lies multiply in hours after Santa Fe school shooting

[DonViejo]

By Drew Harwell May 18 at 6:16 PM

In the first hours after the Texas school shooting that left at least 10 dead Friday, online hoaxers moved quickly to spread a viral lie, creating fake Facebook accounts with the suspected shooter's name and a doctored photo showing him wearing a "Hillary 2016" hat.

Several were swiftly flagged by users and deleted by the social network. But others rose rapidly in their place: Chris Sampson, a disinformation analyst for a counterterrorism think tank, said he could see new fakes as they were being created and filled out with false information, including images linking the suspect to the anti-fascist group Antifa.

It has become a familiar pattern in the all-too-common aftermath of U.S. school shootings: A barrage of online misinformation, seemingly designed to cloud the truth or win political points.

[How to spot a fake Facebook page during a breaking news situation]

But some social media watchers said they were still surprised at the speed with which the Santa Fe shooting descended into information warfare. Sampson said he watched the clock after the suspect was first named by police to see how long it would take for a fake Facebook account to be created in the suspect's name: less than 20 minutes.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/05/18/fake-facebook-accounts-and-viral-lies-multiply-in-hours-after-santa-fe-school-shooting/

[Girard442]

1. This doesn't sound like the work of a bunch of random sickos and dirtbags.

[oberliner]

2. What does it sound like?

[Girard442]

4. To me it sounds like a pool of well-paid pros with a standing mandate to seize opportunities to...

...fan the flames of selected controversies in our country.

[BSdetect]

5. Exactly. Its organized and seems like conspiracy.

[oberliner]

8. Interesting

Maybe so.

[dlk]

3. The Tide is Turning Despite the Fake Accounts and Trolls

[Afromania]

6. Faccebook should stick account created on dates where people can see them.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. You never know who truly is on the other side of an electronic ID...

Always been that way, always will be. FB and all of the like are too interested in selling ADs and the like, and truly won't be able (or doesn't want to) stop 100% of the fraud that's going on. Best bet...ignore it and other digital platforms until a rapid point to point ID & password identification system can be created and put in place (these exist, but too expensive for FB of course).

[redstatebluegirl]

9. I have started to report some of these fake accounts.

There is a report function on facebook. I can say that in most cases they say they don't break the rules, but I have had at least 10 come back saying they were investigating them. If they don't have any friends, if they don't have a picture, and they are spewing hate, they are possibly fake. I think twitter is worse these days.