This thread will examine BLM-type groups on Facebook sharing fake/misleading news.
Note that this isn't always necessary done purposefully, but the effect (social media increasingly dividing us and polarizing us) is the same.
Seen several posts about Nathaniel Julius, a kid w/ Downs Syndrome killed by police.
Most people share it w/o mentioning it happened in S. Africa, or that the cops claim it was result of kid being in crossfire.
Many people respond as if it was in U.S.
In this group, they share a fake news story from a "parody" site (many fake news sites operate now as "parody"), and many people believe it.
When I commented that it was fake news & pointed out to someone mentioning Nathaniel Julius that that was not in U.S., I was kicked out.
In a George-Floyd-related FB group, someone shares a fake-news FB page's story about "A man removed from a mall in Germany for being black."
That page has numerous complaints for sharing fake stories.
In same FB group, someone shares a post saying the "blue line" pro-police flag is a Nazi flag.
The posting account, "Jason Weston", has 'Maurice Santiago' as its name in the URL (see image below), and its picture can be found on a 'cute black guys' Pinterest board.
Some other hate-riling posts from "Jason Weston", including one where he sounds a bit conservative, downplaying the Me Too movement and criticizing the "war on free speech."
The ubiquitous "this case is unfair because of this other case" memes are often deceptive, at very least because they usually involve different charges in different jurisdictions. They get lots of traction.
Here's Snopes on this comparison: snopes.com/fact-check/tan…
I saw this story posted a lot: the Denver family killed and whose house was set on fire. But there has been no evidence that it was a race-related hate crime.
Here's some other activity of the same account that posted the last two images. His Facebook URL is 'vivavivapalestina'.
As you can see from his anti-Israel posts in the second image, he's long had some very polarizing views.
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