During crisis situations, Twitter can be a useful resource for people seeking information from witnesses or officials about what transpired and what might happen next. But the social media platform can also be a breeding ground for rampant misinformation during breaking news events. Tuesday’s shooting at YouTube’s headquarters was a case in point.
As the shooting unfolded at YouTube’s campus in San Bruno, California, hoaxes and other misinformation began spreading on Twitter. Various people were erroneously identified as the shooter, including YouTube personality Matt Jarbo and comedian Sam Hyde. Hyde is often targeted by hoaxers in the aftermath of shootings.
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So far I've seen several hoaxes purporting to show the shooter is: Sam Hyde, "a woman in a headscarf," Anita Sarkeesian, and Hillary Clinton.
— Jane Lytvynenko 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️ (@JaneLytv) April 3, 2018
BuzzFeed reporter Jane Lytvynenko was reporting on the false news being disseminated on Twitter when she discovered that she herself had been identified as the shooter.
Reacting to the onslaught of misinformation, Lytvynenko, who reports on fake news for BuzzFeed, said, “I have never seen this many hoaxes flood in this quickly. They just keep coming.”
— Jane Lytvynenko 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️ (@JaneLytv) April 3, 2018
People are literally upset that our fake news debunking reporter has debunked fake news around this shooting and have now made her fake news. I die. https://t.co/VCxAyPgSxS
In the minutes after the shooting, a verified Twitter account belonging to Vadim Lavrusik, a product manager at YouTube, was hacked by an unknown troll who began posting tweets about the attack, including one that read “PLEASE HELP ME FIND MY FRIEND I LOST HIM IN THE SHOOTING.”
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was alerted to the hack and said his team was “on it.”
A couple of hours later, Lavrusik returned to Twitter to say his account had been restored.
Someone just hacked the account of a YouTube employee who had survived and was tweeting about the shooting. Who the fuck would do this pic.twitter.com/NC5veGNDpj
HuffPost reporter Sebastian Murdock said he was approached on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon by someone claiming to be a YouTube intern.
“I believe I have info on who the shooter is,” the Twitter user said.
Soon after reaching out to Murdock, the user changed their account details, including the name (to “Jack Sebastian”) and description (to “Intern at YouTube HQ”).
Murdock reported the account, which has since been scrubbed of the fake material.
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Twitter acknowledged on Tuesday that misinformation had been spread on the platform in the hours after the shooting at YouTube.
Dorsey said the company was “tracking, learning, and taking action” in response to the many hoaxes.
“We‘re working diligently on product solutions to help,” he added.
We are also aware of attempts by some people to deceive others with misinformation around this tragedy. We are tracking this and are taking action on anything that violates our rules.
In emergency situations, we may require someone to delete a Tweet if it could place someone in imminent danger. Today’s shooting is one of those situations.
We’re also aware of the misinformation being spread on Twitter. We’re tracking, learning, and taking action. We‘re working diligently on product solutions to help. https://t.co/V8vmxgFkmR
San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini said the shooter appeared to have died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. At least three other people were wounded in the attack, officials said.
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