Thread by @kunalpurohit

Exclusive: How the frenzy around #SushantSinghRajput 's death was created:

Millions of users on Facebook Pages and Groups peddled wild conspiracy theories, conducted parallel investigations and targeted those it believed were "guilty." @Article14live

article-14.com/post/online-gr…

Users posted wild, wild allegations--from how Salman Khan was harvesting children's organs for a chemical that kept him young, to how #SSR was trying to save a trafficked child, when he was killed.

Many said his death was beamed live to Dawood Ibrahim on the dark net.

Then, suspicions were stoked by dissecting the crime scene as if the users were forensic experts.

The Mumbai Police was systematically targeted--videos and images alleged a cover-up, said there was ANOTHER body in the room when he died, some said he was shot by a stun gun.

Through it all, the target of the conspiracies was #RheaChakraborty . There seemed to be a determined effort to paint her the villain--from calling her a "plant by the Salman Gang" to how she slow-poisoned Sushant. The result was, users believed this in furious anger. Comments 👇

This was extended to other celebrities, esp those seen to be critical of the government. Lists were made, targets were issued, strategies were designed--from emails to brands asking them to be dropped, social media boycotts and organised trolling. Like this 👇

Why is this so dangerous: It reminded me of Pizza Gate, in the United States, 2016, when social media was so rife with conspiracy theories about a child trafficking ring in pizza parlours. A man walked with a gun, wanting to rescue the non-existent children.

How far are we?

Remember, that millions of users are parts of these Facebook Groups and Pages. Bigger pages have as many as 7 lakh users EACH. Yet, Facebook deliberately looked away.

We even sent them this evidence, asking for a comment. They chose silence.