Tech

Elon Musk fuels rage over misinformation, conspiracy theories attack Paul Pelosi


Within hours of the attack on Paul Pelosi, conspiracy theories blamed for the attack on the husband of US Speaker Nancy Pelosi were rampant online. It didn’t matter that authorities said Paul Pelosi was alone when the suspect broke into the couple’s home in San Francisco. Or that investigators say they don’t believe the two men knew each other. It didn’t even matter that the suspect, David DePape, confessed to investigators that he broke into Pelosi’s home to target the speaker.

Either way, misleading claims about the attack spread quickly, and not just thanks to trolls in obscure internet chat rooms. The statements received a huge boost from several prominent Republicans and Elon Muskis currently the owner of Twitterone of the world’s leading online platforms.

On Monday, fake posts about a personal relationship between Pelosi, and the alleged attacker, spiked on Twitter, a day after Musk tweeted and removed a link to a proposed article. this relationship.

Musk has not said why he linked to the article or why he deleted his post, which came in response to a tweet from Hillary Clinton condemning the attack. Twitter did not immediately respond to questions from the Associated Press on Monday.

“It’s like he forgot that he’s now the owner of the platform and not just another user who can be,” said Brad Greenspan, a technology entrepreneur and an early investor at MySpace. say whatever he wants.” “Now, as an owner, there’s a whole new set of responsibilities.”

One of the Republicans to amplify baseless conspiracy theories, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., defended Musk on Monday with a tweet that repeated a misleading claim about the conspiracy theory. that “Paul Pelosi’s friend attacked him with a hammer”.

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., joked about the attack with his own tweet that has since been deleted, echoing the conspiracy theory.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. mocked Paul Pelosi on Twitter with false assertions.

The statement also spread to other platforms, including fringe sites like Gab and Social Truth, where the posts mocked the 82-year-old victim.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on Monday pleaded with other political leaders to heed their comments on the case.

“Of course we don’t want distorted facts floating around, certainly not in a way that further hurts an already traumatized family,” she said.

The posts focused on Paul Pelosi are just a subset of a recent wave of hate-filled and conspiracy-laden posts after Musk bought Twitter.

In just 12 hours of Musk’s purchase being completed on Friday, references to a specific racist symbol used to demean black people have increased by 500%, according to an analysis. The analysis was conducted by the National Institute of Infection Research, a Princeton, NJ-based company that specializes in tracking misinformation. .

Extremism experts and disinformation researchers have warned that the change in ownership could affect Twitter’s efforts to combat misinformation and hate speech. especially with this year’s midterm elections only a few days away.

Yosef Getachew, director of media and democracy programs at Common Cause, said there is a significant risk that misinformation spread too soon before an election could confuse or frighten voters, leading to division. extreme or even violent action.

“Instead of following conspiracy theorists and propaganda peddlers, we urge Musk to ensure Twitter’s rules and enforcement reflect our values ​​about people,” Getachew said. owners and public safety,” said Getachew.

Authorities in San Francisco held a news conference Monday to discuss the latest investigation into the attack. DePape told police he wanted to take Nancy Pelosi hostage and “break her kneecap,” they said.

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins also revealed several other aspects of the conspiracy theory, saying there was no evidence DePape knew Paul Pelosi and saying that Pelosi was home alone when DePape broke in.

While belief in conspiracy theories is nothing new to American history, experts who study disinformation say they can become dangerous by convincing people to see violence as a solution. as a substitute for politics or when they cause people to ignore unnecessary facts.

DePape appears to have authored racist and often rambling online posts in which he questioned the outcome of the 2020 election, defending the former President Donald Trump and repeat QAnon conspiracy theories.

QAnon supporters support the belief that Trump is secretly waging a war against a cult of blood-drinking Satellites who have controlled world events for years. This movement has been linked to an increasing number of violent acts in the real world in recent years.

According to Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Technology Oversight Project, a group that advocates for new regulations on the platform, social media has fueled the proliferation of conspiracy theories, helping the organizational chart and allow groups to weaponize disinformation.

Haworth said Twitter and other platforms have “created a toxic atmosphere where public officials and their families are at risk (and) now online threats are spilling over into violence in the community.” the real world”.


Affiliate links can be generated automatically – check out ours Moral standards for details.

news7f

News7F: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button