Thread by @kokopuff16

So for the past week I've been keeping an eye and an ear on the #TruckerConvoy2022 and tracking some of the prevailing narratives. Here's a rundown on the misinformation and concerning rhetoric I've been hearing

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First bit of misinformation is the number of trucks participating. The numbers range from 10,000 to 150,000 and seemingly got larger with media visibility. The most common number cited around 50,000, how this is almost certainly false

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Media reports have consistently put the number at about a few hundred at most with Kingston Police providing an exact count here

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#antivaxxers

Some math with the 50,000 claim shows how wild this claim is. A semi with its trailer is about 22 meters long. Rounding up to 30 meters to account for spacing that would mean a 50,000 truck convoy would be 1500 km long (which it certainly isn't)

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For reference that would mean a convoy that stretches roughly from Vancouver to Swift Current Saskatchewan. This convoy is clearly not that long

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The next bit of misinformation that's been circling around is the claim that either the police or the military are going to shutdown the roads to Ottawa to prevent the convoy from reaching the city

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This bit of misinformation has been around for a while but picked up traction after Kingston Police limited traffic in certain areas "to minimize interruption to the City of Kingston and ensure traffic safety"

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globalnews.ca/news/8540756/r…

A few people reacted to this thread of misinformation by not so subtly implying that the convoy should run through any blockades set up by police

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Another line of misinformation that was being shared is the claim that the Liberal Party and Justin Trudeau are actively working to have @gofundme shut down the trucker page on the grounds of violent extremism or terrorism

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The nexus of this line of misinformation likely comes from a tweet made by @gmbutts. Butts no longer works for the Government, but as a former advisor to Justin Trudeau, it was enough to make this part of a grand conspiracy

#cdnpoli #onpoli #OttawaConvoy #antivaxxers

One of the more recent lines of misinformation is that Justin Trudeau's recent exposure to COVID-19 and isolation is a way for him to "hide" from the convoy

#cdnpoli #onpoli #OttawaConvoy #antivaxxers

This seems to be an evolution of an earlier claim that Justin Trudeau was planning to go to Costa Rica to hide from the trucker convoy, which led to some early calls to try and blockade airports

#OttawaConvoy #onpoli #antivaxxers #cdnpoli