Which Tyler wrote:NB: I don't get the Times, nor can I look through its paywall; but
...
Lordsteve666 wrote:SeanF wrote:1 hour ago, SeanF said:
I was reading in the Times today that some people have been posting the names of people at the Concert on social media, as dead or injured, when in fact they were unscathed. The sheer sickness of such "humour" is hard to credit.
It's even worse than that i'm afraid. Several people have noted that pictures of people supposedly missing in the attack are actually of past murder victims or of people totally unrelated to the situation.
The BBC has an article that shows that at least 2 murder victims, a Mexican journalist and a child model have all had their photos dropped into this by some sick bastards.
It's bad enough dealing with something like a terrorist attack is the world so far up it's on arse now that people get a kick out of creating fake missing persons for such events?!?!? I have no words.... :stunned:
Article in full:
Online backlash as trolls use fake news and ‘missing’ posts to spread confusion after Manchester attack
Mark Bridge, Technology Correspondent
May 24 2017, 12:00am, The Times
Internet trolls flooded social media with false messages about missing people and fake news in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena attack.
Many of the “missing” posts were intended to gain tens of thousands of likes and shares and used images of celebrities or people chosen at random who the posters claimed were lost relatives.
They included a 12-year-old girl who was safe at school in Australia and a boy whose picture was lifted from an old article about Down’s syndrome.
One montage supposedly showing children unaccounted for after the Ariana Grande concert included photographs of YouTube celebrities based in America as well as those genuinely missing. This image was copied widely on Facebook and Twitter and by some news outlets.
Many people share or retweet all missing person alerts they see because they want to help, so these messages can spread rapidly.
Other false posts calculated to gain an audience included pictures purporting to show the aftermath of yesterday’s attack that actually showed a training exercise several years ago. Others showed the floor of the Bataclan theatre in Paris strewn with bodies after the attack in November 2015.
Some trolls tweeted a photograph of Ariana Grande appearing battered and bruised, which they claimed showed the 23-year-old singer after the bombing. In fact, it was taken two years ago and showed her in make-up on the set of a TV show. Grande was not injured.
Fake news describing other attacks, or gunmen on the loose, included a Facebook post urging: “Do not come Oldham Hospital [sic], I’m currently locked inside. Man outside with gun.”
This story was incorrect, although the person who posted it said it was an honest mistake. The post was shared 13,000 times and picked up, as true, by tabloid newspapers.
Another story that was widely circulated claimed that 50 or 60 unaccompanied children were being cared for at a Manchester Holiday Inn. The chain’s owners said this was not true, although some victims of the bombing had gone to the hotel for help. They urged people who were worried about missing loved ones to stop ringing the premises and contact the police.
Conspiracy theorists also put videos on YouTube, the video-sharing platform owned by Google, claiming that the bombing was a hoax by our “terrorist government”. One of those videos was watched 38,000 times. Another with the title “Manchester fake terror hoax 2017 Girl Smiling, no actual bomb” had 22,500 views. The caption claimed that the attack was staged by the “children of freemasons”.
Many writers of fake stories faced a backlash as people accused them of wasting police time and causing confusion and distress. One Twitter user replied to the “missing” tweet that used the stolen photograph of the little boy: “Please don’t make this sh** up. some people are ACTUALLY missing, and its absolutely terrifying. just stop.”
The extent of fake news after the attack will add to pressure on internet companies to do more to tackle the problem and to take their responsibilities as publishers seriously. Facebook has made it easier to report fake stories for review by independent fact-checkers, but false stories are not removed from the site, but marked as disputed and ranked further down news feeds.
The companies yesterday stressed the ways in which they were able to help people after the attacks. Twitter said that it had seen “incredible” use of the service to offer shelter and support to others. It added that people were able to follow the Greater Manchester police Twitter account for authenticated real-time updates and guidance.
Facebook stressed that it had activated its “safety check” feature, which allows people to tell friends and family that they are safe after a disaster. The feature went live at 11.57pm, almost an hour and a half after the bomb was detonated. When the feature is switched on, Facebook users who live in an area or spend a lot of time there are sent a notification asking if they want to “check in” as safe. There is also a dedicated page for the incident where others can prompt any friends or family they are worried about to check in.
A “community help” feature introduced in February enables people to offer assistance. Yesterday hundreds of people were offering meals, lifts or a room to those still stranded.
