At around 10.30 last night Britain was rocked by a terror attack in Manchester. The Prime Minister, Theresa May, has condemned it as a ‘sickening act of cowardice’; at the time of writing at least 22 people, including children, had died after an improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated by a suicide bomber at Manchester Arena as an Ariana Grande concert drew to a close. 59 people were recorded as injured. It’s thought, because of the nature of the concert, that the majority of people in attendance were young people.
Sadly, this death toll makes this the greatest loss of life as the result of a terror attack in the United Kingdom since the 7/7 bombings on London’s tube in 2005. All political parties have suspended their campaigns out of respect. However, this is not the first time a terror attack has taken place during a general election campaign. In 1979, the INLA murdered Airey Neave with a car bomb as he drove out of the Palace of Westminster.
As the news broke in Manchester a number of rumours began to do the rounds on Twitter. When atrocities like this are committed, social media can be a great thing. It means we are more up to date with news as it happens than at any point in our history, enables us to contact loved ones and make sure they are safe and makes it easy to communicate the best ways to lend support. However, by its very immediate nature, it also means that information which hasn’t been fact checked can quickly become ‘news’ and makes it easier than ever for people to manipulate information if they wish.
One of the most striking things about how social media has responded is the amount of totally bogus fake news which has circulated online. Here’s some of the worst:
1. People Shared Pictures Of ‘Missing People’ Who Weren't Actually Missing
Friends and family were posting images and details of their loved ones who were missing in the wake of the attack. However, a collage of the ‘missing’ which went viral and was featured by the Daily Mail actually contained pictures of people who were neither missing nor present at the concert.
2.A Fake Picture Of Ariana Grande ‘Backstage’ Did The Rounds
This picture of Ariana Grande supposedly backstage after the attack began to circulate on Twitter. However, users soon called it out and confirmed that it’s actually a picture of her on the set of the TV show Scream Queens in 2015.
3.Trolls Created Fake ‘Missing Friends’
It is being reported that some Twitter trolls posted about fake ‘missing friends’ in order to jump on the Manchester Arena hashtag which was a trending topic on Twitter from around 10.30pm throughout the night.
4.There Was No Gunman At Oldham Hospital
Last night a woman posted the following Facebook status: ‘DO NOT COME to Oldham Hospital I’m currently inside…Man outside with GUN.’
The Daily Express and Daily Starthen reported on this supposed incident. They were then forced to report that this was, in fact, fake news, after the local council were forced to deny the reports.
5.People Thought A Woman Had Taken Unaccompanied Children And Teenagers To The Holiday Inn But They Were Actually At The Premier Inn
In the aftermath of the attack, people were reporting that a woman named Paula Robinson from West Dalton had taken unaccompanied teenagers to a nearby hotel and shared her phone number. However, it was later confirmed by The Independentthat she was in fact at the Premier Inn.
You might also be interested in:
Why How We Respond To Terror Attacks On Social Media Does Matter
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.