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Social Media Spreads Harmful Untruths About Texas Shooting

Experts are warning of conspiracy¹ theories and misinformation on social media after the recent deadly shootings in the American state of Texas.

On Tuesday, an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in the town of Uvalde.

Within hours of Tuesday's school shootings, internet users spread false claims. The claims were about the teenager named as the gunman and his possible reasons for carrying out the attack.

The Associated Press noted² that misinformation also appeared on social media after the shootings at Sandy Hook, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida and after the Orlando, Florida nightclub shooting. It also happened after the mass shooting earlier this month at a Buffalo³ grocery store.

One of the untrue claims about the gunman was that he was an immigrant living in the U.S. illegally, Another was that he was transgender, the AP reported. These quickly appeared on social media services Twitter, Reddit and others. Another claim was that the shooting was somehow false or carried out to gain public attention.

The claims show the problems of racism⁵ and intolerance toward transgender people.

Jaime Longoria is a disinformation expert and leads research at the Disinfo Defense⁶ League. He said the conspiracy theories represent an effort to blame the shooting on minority groups. He said these groups already experience higher rates of online mistreatment and hate crimes.

"It's a tactic⁷ that serves two purposes: It avoids real conversations about the issue (of gun violence), and it gives people...someone to blame," said Longoria.

One popular conspiracy theory was that the gunman was not in the country legally. The man who officials said carried out the shooting, Salvador Ramos, was a U.S. citizen, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a news conference on Tuesday.

Other social media users used photos of innocent internet users to falsely identify them as the gunman and claim he was transgender. On the online message service 4Chan, users shared the photos and talked about a plan to say the gunman was transgender, without any evidence to prove it.

Horrifying⁸ experience

One message on Twitter showed an image of a transgender person, saying the shooter had a channel on YouTube. The message has been removed since then.

The photo actually showed a 22-year-old transgender person named Sabrina who lives in New York City. Sabrina told the AP that the photo was hers and said she had no links with the YouTube channel.

Sabrina said she had gotten unkind messages on social media claiming that she was the shooter. She answered some of the messages, asking that they be removed.

Sabrina told the AP the experience was "just horrifying."

Officials have released no information on the gunman's sexuality or gender⁴ identification.

In some cases, social media users spread misinformation about mass shootings without fully⁹ understanding the facts. In other cases, it can be the work of criminals looking to raise money for their own use or bring attention to their website or organization.

Then there are the trolls - people who send offensive messages for fun.

Ben Decker is founder¹⁰ and chief of the investigation¹¹ company Memetica. He said that extreme online communities often use mass shootings and other tragedies to create disorder¹² and misunderstanding. They want to upset the public and push harmful untruths.

Decker said people in such communities want to show how powerful they can be by "successfully trolling the public." By pushing their story on the general public, they raise their own position in their online community, he said.

Fear of more violence

For the communities harmed by online attacks, the false blame creates fear of discrimination and violence.

Jaden Janak is a graduate student at the University of Texas and also with the Center for Applied¹³ Transgender Studies. Janak said that a transphobic comment on social media can bring about an act of violence against a transgender person.

"These children and adults who were murdered yesterday were just living their lives," Janak said. "They didn't know that yesterday was going to be their last day. And similarly, as trans people, that's a fear that we have all the time," Janak added.

Words in This Story

conspiracy – n. secret planning by a group of people to do something illegal

transgender – adj. a person who has a gender identity which is different from the sex assigned to them at birth

intolerance –n. being not willing to accept or permit something

tactic – n. a method that you choose to use in order to achieve what you want in a particular situation

citizen –n. a person who legally belongs to a country and bears the rights, protections and responsibilities of that country

gender –n. the state of being male or female

transphobic – adj. showing a fear or hatred of transgender people

1 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

4 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

5 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

6 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

7 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

8 horrifying   

a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的

参考例句：

• He went to great pains to show how horrifying the war was. 他极力指出战争是多么的恐怖。
• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate. 战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

11 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

12 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

13 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。