Since the uproar surrounding the immigration attacks in Los Angeles began, a wave of inaccurate and misleading claims about ongoing protests has proliferated across text-based social networks. As Donald Trump significantly ramped up federal involvement, falsehoods shared on social media intertwined with misinformation propagated through channels established by the White House. This blend of genuine and deceptive information creates a distorted representation of a city that strays from the truth.
Various regions in Los Angeles have experienced substantial protests over the last four days in response to intensified immigration policies from the US presidential administration. Dramatic images circulated on Saturday from downtown Los Angeles depicted a car ablaze amid clashes with law enforcement. Many posts fostered the impression that chaos and violence engulfed the entirety of Los Angeles, despite the fact that disturbances remained limited to specific areas within the sprawling city. Trump sent 2,000 National Guard troops to the city without the consent of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has prompted the state to sue over this alleged infringement of sovereignty. Additionally, Defense Secretary Pete Hegses has ordered approximately 700 Marines to be deployed to the city.
As misinformation proliferates amid both street-level and legal confrontations, the intersection of lies and conflict is evident. Social media often acts as a catalyst for the spread of falsehoods, a trend noted during recent wildfires in Los Angeles, catastrophic hurricanes, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among the most egregious disinformation is the circulation of a video featuring Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum by conservative Russian accounts, leading into the protests and inciting the demonstrations showcased on the Mexican flag, as reported by the misinformed Watchdog News Guard. These misleading posts — crafted by Benny Johnson on Twitter/X, referencing pro-Trump outlets like wltreport.com and Russian state media RG.RU — garnered millions of views, according to the organization. On June 9th, Sheinbaum stated to reporters:
Posts about bricks stir up a mixture of real and fake news
Conspiracy-minded conservatives are quick to latch onto familiar tropes. A post on X claimed that the “Soros Funding Organization” had garnered over 9,500 retweets regarding brick pallets near Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, racking up more than 800,000 views. George Soros remains a recurring figure in right-wing conspiracy narratives, with the post similarly implicating LA Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom in the supposed shortage of supplies.
I encountered a post that read, “It’s a civil war!!!”
The images of stacked bricks originate from a Malaysian construction supplier, and the myth that these bricks were distributed to protesters dates back to the 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Users on X shared insights regarding the “Community Notes,” while X’s built-in AI chatbot Grok also provided fact-checks in response to inquiries about the authenticity of the post.
In response to the hoax imagery, some X users shared a link to Real footage showing protesters slamming concrete bollards, intertwining truths and falsehoods, and obscuring the reality of the situation. Independent journalists who showcased the footage claimed it depicted projectiles hurled at police, although the footage revealed no such actions.
The Social Media Lab, a research group at Toronto Metropolitan University, was referenced in Blueski.
Trump and the White House are covered in mud
Trump himself fueled narratives suggesting that the protests were orchestrated and dominated by external agitators lacking genuine concern for local issues.
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“These individuals are not protesters; they are troublemakers and anarchists,” Trump asserted on Truth Social, later screenshot and shared by Elon Musk on X. Others within the administration echoed similar sentiments on social media.
Los Angeles Times reporter noted that the White House claimed certain Mexican citizens had been arrested for assaulting an officer “during the riot.” However, it was established that customs and border protection agents had detained him prior to the protest’s commencement.
Sowing misleading information and fostering distrust
Trump has escalated the frequency of ICE raids nationwide, amplifying deportation fears throughout Los Angeles. Anti-ICE posts are also circulating misinformation, according to the Social Media Lab. One concerning post on Blueski, labeled “breaking,” alleged that a federal agent had just arrived at an LA elementary school seeking to interrogate first graders, when in reality, the incident occurred two months prior. Researchers have identified such posts as “Rage-Farming to Push Merch.”
The conspiracy platform Infowars has initiated a broadcast on X titled “Live Watch: LA ICE Riots Spread Across Major Cities Nationwide.” While protests against deportation have emerged in various locations, the level of confusion observed in Los Angeles is unmatched. The broadcast attracted 13,000 viewers simultaneously as X, a Los Angeles news service, aired coverage four nights after the immigration protest.
The spread of erroneous reporting undermines X’s credibility as a news platform, yet it continues to promote itself as the leading news application in the US, or more recently, in Qatar. Older images and videos are combined with new to instill doubts about legitimate news. After taking over Twitter in late 2022, Musk has endorsed user-generated fact-checking via the “Community Notes” feature, but has dismantled numerous internal avenues designed to counter misinformation. Particularly with the 2024 US presidential election approaching, researchers indicate that Musk himself has become a significant facilitator of misinformation, posting and resharing misleading claims that garnered around 2 billion views on numerous occasions. The Center for Countering Digital Hate.
Source: www.theguardian.com
