Fact Check: Manchester Bombing Rumors and Hoaxes - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/world/europe/fact-check-manchester-bombing-rumors-and-hoaxes.html
After the bombing in Manchester, England, this week that killed 22, internet users and publishers have spread rumors and hoaxes, and miscast blame.
How much of this false information is intentional trickery or well-meaning confusion is difficult to know. But below we look at some themes of misinformation, along with context and sourcing to verifiable information.
Social media posts are spreading hoaxes about missing children.
People took to social media to search for loved ones lost in the chaos that followed the explosion, which occurred at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena. But many well-wishers and social media good Samaritans have been duped into sharing fake reports of missing victims. In a cruel sign of social savvy, many of the most successful frauds have used fake photos and back stories children, as The Washington Post and BuzzFeed have reported.
One account posted a plea to find “my son” that was retweeted over 19,000 times.
My son was in the Manchester Arena today
He’s not picking up my call!
Please help me pic.twitter.com/VZxkp6nVBN
— Zero (@GamerGateAntifa) May 22, 2017
But the person pictured is a popular YouTube user, who posted a video denying the claim and calling the post “fake news” from online trolls “just to try to get some laughs out it.” He offered his condolences to the victims.
In another post, a Twitter user claimed to be searching for “my little brother Frank.” The boy pictured is a model for Downs Designs Dreams, a fashion line for people with Down syndrome based in Ohio, and his name is Griffith, not Frank.
“This little boy is 9 or 10 now. He was 2 or 3 years old then. He’s certainly not missing,” said Karen Bowersox, the executive director of Downs Designs Dreams. Twitter suspended the account that posted the claim.