WASHINGTON, USA - JUNE 2: Security forces block the road as protesters gather near Lafayette Park ... [+]
Twitter has suspended accounts that it says were falsely claiming there was blackout in Washington during protests over the death of George Floyd on June 1.
The social network suspended the accounts after an investigation into the hashtag #dcblackout, a Twitter spokesperson told Bloomberg. The accounts spreading misinformation about a communications failure were removed in line with Twitter’s platform manipulation and spam policy, the spokesperson said.
According to the Washington Post the DC blackout hashtag first emerged from an account with just three followers, but it was then retweeted more than 500,000 times.
Many citizens suspected a blackout had taken place in order to disrupt the protests, however the claim does indeed seem to be false, according to numerous sources. A Reuters article calls out several Facebook examples with one saying: “These are getting deleted consistently across twitter, don’t stop sharing this information. Something is really wrong, how can I believe the empty streets this morning are because everyone went safely home and only ‘about half’ were arrested.”
However, Netblocks, an organization which tracks disruptions and shutdowns, said via Twitter that it had not detected a blackout in Washington, DC. “Real-time network data from Washington, DC show no indication of a mass-scale internet disruption overnight or through the last 48 hours.”
While protesters may have been having issues communicating, it could have been due to problems accommodating a large amount of users on cellphone networks at once.
As protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody continue across America, many people are getting their news on social media sites such as Twitter. Multiple videos are being posted every day, and social media companies are trying to strike the right balance between controlling misinformation and ensuring the truth can be heard.
Last week, Twitter for the first time obscured one of President Trump’s tweets with a public interest notice for violating Twitter rules about glorifying violence.
But Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s failed to act on Trump’s “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” post, leading dozens of employees to stage a virtual walkout—with one saying in a tweet that he had quit the company.
Controlling fake news and misinformation is a complex modern-world issue that’s difficult to manage for social media companies, governments and individuals. It’s important to get it right during a pandemic and it’s even more critical now.
