An image of Parkland, Fla., survivor Emma Gonzalez ripping up the Constitution is lighting up parts of the Internet.
But that image is a grossly manipulated version of the original, which actually shows Gonzalez tearing a poster of a shooting target for a Teen Vogue article.
Storyful research director Ben Decker explained how the altered image came to be.
“You had a number of people on 4Chan -- obviously, one of the vanguards and origins of a lot of disinformation stories -- essentially asking people if they could take it apart and recreate the...meme,” he said.
Sites like 4Chan and Gab have grown in popularity as traditional social media sites have tried to crack down on the spread of disinformation.
“Gab, for instance, which claims to have almost a million users, essentially started with a large number of people who were kicked off of Twitter and...Facebook,” Decker said.
Another option called “Gunbook” emerged soon after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
“A Scottish man realized that he couldn’t advertise most of his gun ownership...on Facebook. So now all of a sudden you have a completely new space where people are...continuing this conversation about having to defend the Second Amendment.”
The image of Gonzalez is just one example of how the stringent supporters of gun rights have been vilifying the survivors of the Parkland, Fla., shooting.
In the immediate aftermath, conspiracy theorists perpetuated the idea that David Hogg, another student survivor, was a crisis actor.
According to Decker, the easiest way to spot fake images online is to use Google’s reverse image search feature, which will bring up the starting points for much of the viral content.
“But ultimately, I think there needs to be a real understanding of...how would this play into a narrative either on the left or the right. We have to consume news in a much more objective mindset.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-real-dangers-of-fake-news).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
