RumorGuard: Viral posts misidentify innocent man as Sydney stabbing suspect
News Literacy Project's RumorGuard breaks down a startling example of misinformation when a college student in Australia was misidentified as the suspect in a recent mass killing at a mall in Sydney. Photo by Demian Smit / Pexels.com
News Literacy Project/RumorGuard
Breaking news events are frequently exploited by purveyors of disinformation seeking to sow confusion or push an ideological explanation — including inflammatory extremist rhetoric aimed at marginalized groups.
Mass shootings and stabbings often attract these kinds of bad actors because they are highly emotional events that spark widespread concern and curiosity, and because details about a suspect’s identity and motive are rarely known in the chaotic moments that follow these violent incidents. As police and standards-based news outlets work to verify information, engagement seekers and bad actors seek to exploit these information gaps with sensational falsehoods.
Misidentifying the perpetrators of violent attacks has real-world consequences. Not only are these falsehoods often designed to stir up hate against groups of people, they also often name innocent people who are then subjected to online harassment as these claims go viral. It can be challenging to refrain from engaging with sensational content about a breaking news event, but slowing down and waiting for standards-based sources to confirm details helps reduce the spread of inflammatory falsehoods.
After a man stabbed and killed six people at a mall in Sydney, Australia, false rumors about the identity of the attacker spread online along with antisemitic comments. Let’s look at the facts.
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