This Week in Misinformation: Astroworld, Dallas Cult, Big Bird-Vaccines, Good Twitter Bots, Demi Lovato-Q
11 November 2021
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Reliability scores for media outlets cited in the summary are in parentheses for each, courtesy of the terrific folks at Ad Fontes Media.
We had a lively talk on stories highlighted in this edition with expert discussants at our latest Misinfo Meetup. Follow us on Twitter (and use the mobile app to enable Spaces) to get a heads up on the next one!
Now, on to our top four stories.
Texas, Part 1: The AstroworldFest tragedy as a case study in mass casualty events inspiring misinformation.
Despite sizable risks having been anticipated by festival organizers and city officials (Rolling Stone, 38.77), the Travis Scott concert in Houston this week culminated in a chaotic crowd surge (Houston Chronicle, 44.85) that ended nine lives and injured many others. Lawsuits have been filed against the performers for neglecting to stop the show when told by audience members that people were dying (BBC, 46.40). Scott and his guest on stage, Drake, have issued statements of apology for the disaster (CBS News, 47.00).
The deadly concert immediately spawned a range of wrong explanations (i.e., other than that they were trampled or crushed) in its aftermath, including notably a viral narrative on TikTok that the performance was in fact a satanic ritual (Rolling Stone, 38.77). Some falsely tied the fatalities to COVID vaccines (PolitiFact, 45.22) and 5G technology (@dappergander via Twitter).
Houston’s chief of police, speaking to reporters after the incident, relayed an incorrect report (CBS News, 47.00) that had circulated about a security guard being injected with an unknown substance before losing consciousness. The security guard later clarified that no such thing had happened, and the police chief had to walk back the previous statement (Rolling Stone, 38.77).
Texas, Part 2: The Q sect in Dallas as a case study in conspiracy belief and charismatic cults.
When JFK Jr. did not appear in Dallas last week, as hundreds who had gathered at Dealey Plaza clearly believed he would (VICE, 41.42), Q personality and self-styled gematria wizard Michael Brian Protzman could have released them to return to their homes across the country. Instead, he told them to stay—and many did (VICE, 41.42).
Protzman, who is known to his large online following as “Negative48,” ministered to his flock with the help of a shoulder bird (@stevanzetti via Twitter), directed them to form a giant letter “Q” (@2021_Karma via Twitter), led them in an exercise in divining truths from the nighttime city skyline (@hottub_twin via Twitter), and more. He dictates which parts of the group’s activities may be livestreamed, and which may not, and his leadership decisions appear to be heavily guided by what he calls visions.
With Protzman and his group fixing to stay in Dallas for the long haul (The Independent, 41.74), this storyline will probably be updated soon.
Not Texas: Trump failed to persuade a judge to stop the January 6th Committee from getting records from his time in the White House. (Or did he?)
First what happened was, Trump asked for emergency relief from a judge who was still deciding whether to grant his already pending request for relief (Politico, 43.41). A day after rejecting the double-up petition, the judge denied the original one as well (Forbes, 43.81). Trump immediately appealed, however, and the DC Circuit Court has now granted a temporary stay of the ruling in question (ABC News, 46.65), which would have put the records into the Congressional committee’s hands as early as Friday.
The committee, meanwhile, complained about the uncooperative testimony of former Justice official Jeffrey Clark (statement by Chairman Bennie Thompson), turned the screws on former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows (CNN, 42.99), and issued a total of 16 new subpoenas (NPR, 46.21) for testimony from Trump allies—including John McEntee, one of Trump’s favorite young loyalists (The Atlantic, 39.53).
Investigators appear to be focusing on Trump’s lieutenants’ January 6th “war rooms” at the Willard Hotel and elsewhere (New York Times, 44.71) and, possibly, on people in Vice President Pence’s inner circle (CNN, 42.99). One such lieutenant, Steve Bannon, is continuing to feed election lies to his enormous podcast audience (CNN, 42.99) while he waits for the Justice Department to decide whether he will be indicted (Newsweek, 39.36) for contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena last month.
On a Wired magazine webcast, former British royal Prince Harry said he warned Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey by email that a “coup” was being staged coordinated on the platform (Wall Street Journal, 46.00). Harry, who also asserted that misinformation is a “global humanitarian crisis,” said the 5 January email with the warning was the last communication the two men had (Associated Press, 49.34).
In a troubling sign that instability in the U.S. is spilling over to other democracies, demonstrators brandishing Trump flags and anti-vaccine placards took to the streets of several cities in New Zealand, with some hoping to overrun the parliament building in the capital (VICE, 41.42).
Not Texas (this time): A California teacher got in trouble for telling kids Trump is currently the president. The incentives for GOP senate candidates in Arizona, however, seem to be going the other way.
In Ventura County, a parent reported an issue when her child was distressed about COVID vaccines and shared a recording of his middle school history teacher wrongly claiming that Donald Trump was still president, among other falsehoods (Newsweek, 39.36). The teacher has been removed from her job but remained employed by the school district (Insider, 43.32).
One state over, a protégé of billionaire Peter Thiel is running for U.S. Senate on essentially the same false message as the teacher: that Trump won in 2020 (@ShaneGoldmacher via Twitter). The candidate, Blake Masters, released a video where he just out and says it (The Week, 34.19), possibly because Trump has indicated he may endorse someone in the Republican primary soon (Politico, 43.41). Trump gave Masters’s rival, State Attorney General Mark Brnovich, an ultimatum this week, saying “now” is the time to indict someone for crimes related to the supposed theft of Arizona from Trump’s column (AZ Central, 43.97).
This rhetoric is far from harmless. Adding to the many reports we have seen on the misinformation-fueled threats and harassment to which election officials have been subjected, Reuters (48.81) dove deep to show that such behavior—even when egregious and well documented—is almost never actioned by law enforcement.
And, of course, the many-splendored grab bag. Only a couple have anything to do with Texas: Biden made his own false claims about Virginia elections; Republicans are using images of Trump-era chaos in Biden attack ads; Liz Cheney said Tucker Carlson is “Un-American” for claims made in his film that January 6th was a “false flag”; Adam Kinzinger called Tucker a “manipulative son of a bitch” for the film; the Surgeon General announced a new COVID misinformation resource; a poll found that many, many Americans believe at least one false statement about COVID; Republican messaging about Big Bird’s pro-vaccine tweet mistakenly asserted that kids are not at risk from COVID; Newsmax anchors ripped management for talking internally about federally imposed vaccine mandate; Newsmax’s Emerald Robinson was permanently suspended from Twitter; Twitter said it has started labeling “good” bots; climate misinformation surged alongside the COP26 summit; right wing operatives channeled “critical race theory” disinformation through fake local news sites; and Demi Lovato teamed up with a Q-friendly wellness site.
That, and a lot more, below. This is This Week in Misinformation.
-- Kevin