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I traced a viral story about a 'stolen' election to just 12 original tweets
It's wild how a whole national panic can start from a handful of accounts, all repeating the same made-up claim. Has anyone else tried to track a hoax back to its actual source and been shocked by how small it was?
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casey8184mo ago
Exactly. I tracked a whole neighborhood panic about a gas leak back to one drunk guy on Nextdoor. @brian_baker gets it. One angry post spirals into a whole thing. Best advice: check the first post date before you share anything.
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brian_baker5mo ago
Yeah, it's nuts. I once followed a rumor about a local store closing back to one angry Yelp review. The whole town was talking about it for weeks.
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anthonys605mo ago
Man, that's crazy but it tracks. I saw something similar with that weird story about birds not being real last year. It felt like everyone was talking about it, then someone found it basically came from one guy's joke tweet that got screen-shotted a thousand times. The internet just amplifies the smallest things until they feel huge.
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