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Abbie Richards

17 Dec, 6 tweets, 2 min read

The Great TikTok School Shooting Panic of 2021 happened today. This was quite the cocktail of anxiety, and misinformation. Also a fundamental misunderstanding of both TikTok and the causes of violence.

Thread (TL;DR the adults need to do better)

The origin of the hoax is unknown but there is no evidence of an original threat.

The earliest mention I've found is from Citrus County School District in Florida. On December 14th students reported a TikTok which warned of a school shooting at their middle school.

@people

There seems to be a confusion between a warning and a threat. The videos feature a warning about these alleged shootings but don’t include any evidence of a threat. Still, the two words are being used often interchangeably.

Note how @people does this in the first paragraph

This panic is reminiscent of "National Rape Day" in April in which a rumor snowballed into a panic believed by millions. This hoax created real danger for women and promoted harmful myths about sexual assault.
mediamatters.org/tiktok/viral-a…

This panic also comes not long after the "Slap a Teacher" TikTok challenge hoax. Even though it's been thoroughly debunked, it's being used as evidence of violent threats as "trends" on TikTok.
vice.com/en/article/3aq…

The spread of misinformation about this vague "threat" seems to have been initially perpetuated by a handful of school districts and amplified by media outlets. TikTok also failed to contain the viral rumour on its platform.

This panic was 100% preventable.

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More from @abbieasr

Abbie Richards

@abbieasr

29 Sep

As the Wayfair conspiracy goes viral again on TikTok, I want to examine the culture of conspiracy theories on the platform.

Conspiracy theories aren’t just occasional, random videos on TikTok, there is an entire creative economy which supports them.

Thread⬇️

The creator in this case is “tythecrazyguy” who has 3.7 million people who follow him for his “conspiraTEA” content which has racked up nearly 100 million likes.
You’ll notice he has management as well as sponsorships.

Ty turns dangerous and often hateful conspiracy theories like flat earth, hollow earth, Illuminati, satanic sacrifice, etc. into catchy, palatable content for a younger, more progressive audience.

Read 8 tweets

Abbie Richards

@abbieasr

18 Sep

Very niche “brands being in on the joke” TikTok analysis thread:

It’s possible that you’ve noticed giant brands on TikTok have changed their logos. NASCAR, Ocean Spray, Tinder, the Washington Post, Tampax, and even TikTok itself have all changed their profile pictures.

This all stems from user @/emilyzugay who has made a series of very viral satirical videos which re-design major brands logos. (The joke is that she designs them horribly. They are good videos and she’s hilariously apathetic).

For the brands changing their profile pictures, it’s great publicity. It makes their mega-corporations appear silly, in-on-the-joke, and capable of laughing at themselves.

In fact it’s such good publicity, virtually every brand is BEGGING her to do their logo next.

Read 6 tweets

Abbie Richards

@abbieasr

16 Sep

The way true crime turns real people’s trauma into entertainment for profit is already disgusting. But watching it unfold in real time with Gabby Petito’s case is nauseating.

So let’s explore TikTok users’ unhealthy obsession with her disappearance.

I first encountered “Gabby is missing” content in a TikTok livestream on Tuesday afternoon. At that time the hashtag “GabbyPetito” had 1.4 million views.

By Wednesday (yesterday) afternoon the hashtag had exploded to 9.7 million views.

The hashtag is currently at 38.3 million views (it has gained more than a million since I started working on this thread)

Read 14 tweets

Abbie Richards

@abbieasr

12 Jan

Taking suggestions for the title of this series.
Working title:
QAnon Explained (for sheeple)

I’ll post the series here in this thread, on TikTok (tofology) and on Instagram (abbiesr)

QAnon 101 Lesson 1:
The central myth of QAnon

Read 8 tweets

Abbie Richards

@abbieasr

6 Oct 20

https://twitter.com/abbieasr/status/1313602067467063302

Some Nazi’s have made a copycat version of my Conspiracy Chart.
I’m not going to post it but in this thread, I’ll break down some of the things it says and provide resources to counter the dangerous myths they are circulating.

https://twitter.com/abbieasr/status/1313602067467063302

@HolocaustMuseum

The biggest text in the top tier is a denial of the number of Jewish people who died during the Holocaust.
Here’s a resource from @HolocaustMuseum. They have an entire online Holocaust Encyclopaedia with well researched, accurate information and numbers.
ushmm.org/learn/holocaust

@BrianCathcart

They claim that the federal reserve is a scam set up by the Rothchilds.
Here is an article by @BrianCathcart that explains the history of the Rothchild Libel (which is over 200 years old and based on an antisemitic pamphlet)
independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…

Read 8 tweets