Police responded to an active shooter at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno,videos of disabled persons having sex California on Tuesday that left three people injured and one dead. But before police could even get a grasp on the situation, Twitter erupted with lies and misinformation.
While many people on Twitter grabbed their "fake news" pitchforks, this situation felt different than the misinformation spread in the past, especially during the election. This wasn't some politically-driven website promoting lies; this was straight up trolling in the most classic sense of the word.
SEE ALSO: 3 injured and 1 dead after shooting at YouTube HQWhile the definition of trolling has broadened in recent years, its original use on the internet stemmed from fishing. Cast out a line, or a lie, and see who bites. Deceit is key here.
BuzzFeed reporter Jane Lytvynenko started a hugely important thread on Twitter, collecting dozens of examples of hoaxes and misinformation. And then became a victim of trolling herself, with an internet bully tweeting a picture of her and falsely labeling her the shooter.
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Almost immediately, a popular hoax involving comedian Sam Hyde, whose photo has been falsely connected numerous times to shootings, spread. Trolls once again said Hyde, who the New York Timesdubbed an "absurdist comedian," was the shooter. This happens so often, it's even noted in a Know Your Meme submission about Hyde.
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Before any information about the shooter was released, one Twitter account which has since been suspended, falsely claimed the shooter was Anita Sarkeesian, a GamerGate victim.
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Some claimed the Associated Press and CNN were confirming the shooter was Emily Youcis, aka “Pistachio Girl," who was fired from her job at Aramark in 2016 after she was milkshake-ducked. Neither the AP, police, or CNN confirmed the identity of the shooter at the time of this tweet.
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Popular YouTubers also became a plaything for trolls spreading false information. Many shared images of YouTubers and identified them as the shooter.
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This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
And in what may be one of the worst offenses, someone managed to gain access to YouTube staffer Vadim Lavrusik's verified Twitter account. Lavrusik was one of the first people to tweet about the incident, so seeing a tweet from him which read "PLEASE HELP ME FIND MY FRIEND I LOST HIM IN THE SHOOTING," was alarming until it was clear his account had been hacked.
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The photo attached to that tweet asking for help, which has since been deleted, was of YouTuber Daniel Keem, who hosts the show DramaAlert. This was also a troll, clearly.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey replied that they were "on it" when someone flagged the account had been hacked.
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable He also noted that Twitter is "taking action" amid the fast-spreading lies.
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It should be noted that although Twitter was an absolute hot mess during the shooting, many of the fake troll tweets were removed and the accounts that posted them were suspended within minutes. Regardless, Twitter is a massive platform that is impossible to police. It did feel like this shooting received more trolling than other prior shootings, possibly because it occurred at YouTube, a platform whose users are notoriously trolly. It's also possible that the conversation around gun violence has been heightened on Twitter since Parkland, and we've all become attuned to fake news post-election.
While there will inevitably be fake news stories related to this very real shooting tomorrow, much of what occurred immediately after news broke of the shooting was just internet trolling at its worst.
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