<
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/13/tiktok-boat-challenge-fake-misinformation/>
"On Monday morning, the
Today Show broadcast a television segment about an
alleged TikTok challenge that was killing people. “A stunt, intended to rack up
views … It’s known as the boat jumping challenge,” the host declared. The news
segment and subsequent article on
Today.com claimed: “Multiple people have
died after attempting boat jumping challenge on TikTok.”
The segment was broadcast to an audience of millions, ran across local NBC
affiliates nationwide and spread onto local NBC sites.
Dozens of stories followed.
People,
Forbes, the
Daily Mail, the
New York
Post, and countless other outlets repeated what the
Today Show had claimed,
that at least four people’s deaths were directly tied to this alleged “TikTok
challenge.” Right-wing internet commentators who have been critical of TikTok
amplified the misinformation. “Four people have died from TikTok’s latest
challenge,” tweeted conservative influencer Ian Miles Cheong in a tweet that
received 4.7 million views. “ … And those are just the four police know of.”
But it was all untrue. There is no boat jumping challenge on TikTok. Before the
media frenzy, no boat jumping videos had gone viral on TikTok, and no hashtag
related to jumping off boats had ever been popular on TikTok, according to the
company. Not a single trending audio on TikTok has ever been linked to jumping
off boats."
Via Christoph S.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
