Disinformation Spreads Chaos Amid Los Angeles Protests

Strategic Insights -

A torrent of misleading photographs, videos, and text has surged on social media as protests against immigrant raids unfolded in Los Angeles, rehashing old conspiracy theories and echoing President Trump's actions. The false information online was aimed at fueling outrage toward immigrants and politicians, particularly Democrats. The posts created a false narrative that the entire city was engulfed in violence, when in reality, the clashes were limited to a small part of the city. False images also spread, reviving old conspiracies that the protests were a planned provocation, not a spontaneous response to the immigration raids.

Key Takeaways:

  • Social media platforms were flooded with misleading photographs, videos, and text, stoking an already tense situation amid protests against immigrant raids in Los Angeles.
  • The false information online was aimed at fueling outrage toward immigrants and politicians, particularly Democrats, and created a false narrative that the entire city was engulfed in violence.
  • False images spread, reviving old conspiracies that the protests were a planned provocation, not a spontaneous response to the immigration raids.
  • Social media accounts with deceptive handles that closely resembled official government sources or news organizations shared posts disparaging the protests.
  • The theme of demonstrations being "paid insurrectionists" was echoed by numerous posts, including ones from accounts linked to Russia, which often amplifies content that discredits the United States.
  • Disinformation in situations like these spreads so quickly and widely that efforts to verify facts cannot keep up, said Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at Free Press.
  • The disinformation was part of "a much longer effort to delegitimize peaceful resistance movements," according to Benavidez.

Statistics:

  • Over 800,000 people saw the misleading image of bricks, which was actually posted on the website of a building materials wholesaler in Malaysia.
  • The image was also widely reposted, including by several seemingly inauthentic accounts in Chinese.
  • The image had been seen at least since the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
  • A post by Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, suggesting that bricks for a paving project near Capitol Hill were intended for violent protests after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, circulated on social media in 2022.
  • The protests resulted in clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers in a small part of the city.

Sources:

  • "The New York Times"
  • Darren L. Linvill, a researcher at Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub
  • Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at Free Press
  • Mark Abramson for The New York Times