Social Media und gezielte Lügen nach Attentaten

#1 | Social Media und gezielte Lügen nach Attentaten datum

15.04.2024 10:30 (zuletzt bearbeitet: 15.04.2024 10:31)

Ich lese gerad einen Artikel, der sich auf das Online Geschehen nach dem Messerattentat am Samstag hier in Sydney bezieht. Wie wahrscheinlich die Meisten mitbekommen haben, hat ein Messerattentäter am Samstag nachmittag in einem Einkaufscenter 6 Menschen mit einem Messer getötet, weitere wurden zT schwer verletzt, bevor er von einer Polizistin nach vergeblicher Aufforderung, das Messer fallen zu lassen, erschossen wurde.
Im Laufe des gestrigen Tages stellte sich heraus, dass es sich um einen Australier aus Queensland handelte, der an Schizophrenie litt, neu in der Stadt war und obdachlos. Das ist keine Entschuldigung für seine Taten, nur eine Zustandsbeschreibung.

Innerhalb kürzester Zeit wurden auf den üblichen Plattformen Lügen gepostet, ich behaupte mal, zum grossen Teil in vollem Bewusstsein, dass es keine bewiesenen Details sind.
Dass Privatpersonen ihre Vorurteile nicht nur hier, sondern auch im Ausland posten, das ist ja nix Neues.
Was mich dann aber doch etwas fassungslos macht (sollte es eigentlich nicht mehr, nach all den Jahren), sind die gezielten Falschmeldungen von Journalisten, Aktivisten, Netzwerken mit ihrer eigenen Agenda. Zum grossen Teil aus dem Ausland. Die in erster Linie auf Muslims und Juden zielen.

Each tragedy that attracts global attention is now an opportunity for social media accounts to attract followers and revenue off the back of inflammatory claims, or to fit the incident into a predetermined narrative before the facts have emerged, and this weekend was no different.

Esther Chan, a disinformation researcher, said �Islamophobic and anti-immigrant comments� were rife online in the hours after the Bondi Junction stabbing, including speculation about the perpetrator�s skin colour, appearance and supposed religion.

�In fact, several X accounts based outside of Australia and each with a large following were among the earliest to share these videos, some unverified, alongside comments with a racist or Islamophobic undertone,� she said.

�It�s important to beware of how incidents like this can be used to promote harmful narratives.�

In the aftermath of the attack, several prominent verified accounts on X, including those of journalists and far-right political leaders in the UK, speculated without evidence that the person responsible was motivated by Islamic faith.

The verified account of Julia Hartley-Brewer, a presenter on British channel TalkTV, claimed the attacker was an �Islamist terrorist�, which she later clarified was incorrect. The verified account of Britain First co-founder Paul Golding made similar allegations, which had been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Oder das:

The name Benjamin Cohen began to circulate online Saturday evening, spurred on by several verified accounts on X, some with more than 1.7 million followers and others that regularly share antisemitic commentary.

The name also spread on Telegram, where Australian far-right accounts eagerly seized on false allegations the perpetrator was first Muslim and then Jewish, as well as in the comment sections of videos about the incident on Instagram and TikTok.

Accounts linked to the pro-Kremlin activist Simeon Boikov, who goes by Aussie Cossack online, shared Cohen�s name on X and Telegram to a combined 93,000 followers on Saturday night as well as that of another man in �unconfirmed� reports about the attacker�s identity.

�I was simply commenting on the fact that there were unconfirmed reports circulating,� Boikov told Guardian Australia from the Russian consulate in Sydney. �At no time did I claim that was fact.�

Guardian Australia is not suggesting Boikov published Cohen�s name due to a financial motive.

A Sydney man by the name of Benjamin Cohen, whose LinkedIn profile was shared on X by accounts falsely claiming he resembled the attacker, said people were attempting to �push an agenda and spread hatred�.

�It�s extremely disappointing to see thousands of people mindlessly propagating misinformation without even the slightest thought put to fact-checking or real life consequences,� he said in a statement to Guardian Australia.

Quelle: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...-as-it-happened

Hier wird heute (neben vielen anderen Dingen, die das Attentat betreffen) heiss diskutiert, ob und wie man 'den Senf wieder in Tube bekommen kann'. Mehr Moderation in den Social Media zu solchen Anlässen? Keine Kommentarfunktionen bei diesen Themen? Die technische Möglichkeit, Posts zu blockieren? Härtere Strafen bei Missachtung? Die Plattformen haftbar machen? Mehr informieren, was das Weiterleiten von jeglichen nicht verifizierten Informationen mit sich bringt?

"We can, in fact we must, continue to fight to make everything about society better, without destroying what's already great."
Carrick Ryan, Australian political commentator

"We are all just walking each other home."
Ram Dass, writer

"The grass is always greener where you water it"