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False claims blur line between mass shootings, 2020 politics
Source: Associated Press
False claims blur line between mass shootings, 2020 politics
By WILL WEISSERT and AMANDA SEITZ
September 5, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — Minutes after media outlets identified the gunman who killed seven people in West Texas, a Twitter account that appears to have been computer-generated began spreading baseless information linking the shooter to Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke.
“The Odessa Shooter’s name is Seth Ator, a Democrat Socialist who had a Beto sticker on his truck,” said the post, which also appeared on Facebook.
No such sticker was found on either of the vehicles, one a stolen mail truck, that Ator used during his rampage, according to Sgt. Oscar Villarreal, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman.
Still, the groundless conjecture after the shooting was spread by thousands online and even retweeted by Anthony Shaffer, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer and a member of President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign advisory board. Shaffer didn’t respond to questions about the claim.
The breakneck speed of the misinformation — and just how far it spread — illustrates an eagerness to blame such events on political ideologies, regardless of whether the facts support that. It’s also an early indication of how difficult it will be for campaigns to combat virulent falsehoods ahead of a 2020 presidential campaign that could be full of them.
-snip-
By WILL WEISSERT and AMANDA SEITZ
September 5, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — Minutes after media outlets identified the gunman who killed seven people in West Texas, a Twitter account that appears to have been computer-generated began spreading baseless information linking the shooter to Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke.
“The Odessa Shooter’s name is Seth Ator, a Democrat Socialist who had a Beto sticker on his truck,” said the post, which also appeared on Facebook.
No such sticker was found on either of the vehicles, one a stolen mail truck, that Ator used during his rampage, according to Sgt. Oscar Villarreal, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman.
Still, the groundless conjecture after the shooting was spread by thousands online and even retweeted by Anthony Shaffer, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer and a member of President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign advisory board. Shaffer didn’t respond to questions about the claim.
The breakneck speed of the misinformation — and just how far it spread — illustrates an eagerness to blame such events on political ideologies, regardless of whether the facts support that. It’s also an early indication of how difficult it will be for campaigns to combat virulent falsehoods ahead of a 2020 presidential campaign that could be full of them.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/bd653f4eb5ed4f34b6c936221c35a3e5