In an effort to prove just how quickly false information can be spread, President Donald Trump has been accused of murder. Over the weekend, Trump shared a controversial tweet about host and former congressman Joe Scarborough, accusing him of killing a woman. “A lot of interest in this story about Psycho Joe Scarborough," the president wrote. "So a young marathon runner (Lori Klausutis) just happened to faint in his office, hit her head on his desk, & die? I would think there is a lot more to this story than that? An affair? What about the so-called investigator? Read story!”
Later, Lori Klausutis's husband wrote a heartfelt letter to Twitter asking them to remove Trump's tweets because they were false accusations and he didn't want his wife's name used in some political ploy. According to the husband, Lori had a heart condition and the medical examiner determined that there was no foul play involved in her death, but Twitter refused to take down the messages. It seems that the public has taken justice into their own hands and launched a series of false allegations of their own, as a parody account sparked a false information fire that took off.
"Donald Trump killed his personal assistant, Carolyn Gombell, in October 2000," a "God" account wrote. "He strangled her because he'd gotten her pregnant and was threatening to tell the press. Then he bribed NYPD Police Chief Bernie Kierik to cover it up. IT'S TIME TO INVESTIGATE. #JusticeForCarolyn." Soon, tens of thousands of people began retweeting conspiracy theories about Carolyn Gombell. The woman doesn't exist, but it didn't matter; "#JusticeForCarolyn" became a trending topic on Twitter for hours before people realized it was all a crude joke. It does prove, however, how quickly misinformation can spread throughout social media, even if it comes from the president, so that lesson was received loud and clear. Check out a few tweets below.
https://twitter.com/_/status/1265271275007721472
https://twitter.com/_/status/1265280488312315905
https://twitter.com/_/status/1265347622660739072
https://twitter.com/_/status/1265452474757836802
https://twitter.com/_/status/1265384206718373889
https://twitter.com/_/status/1265468898251436032
https://twitter.com/_/status/1265399116055687177
https://twitter.com/_/status/1265451060447059970
https://twitter.com/_/status/1265385219097415680
https://twitter.com/_/status/1265478200618037248
https://twitter.com/_/status/1265472291443539968
https://twitter.com/_/status/1265427539008380928