Facebook and Google Struggle to Squelch ‘Crisis Actor’ Posts
The difficulty of dealing with inappropriate online content stands out with the Parkland shooting because the tech companies have effectively committed to removing any accusations
that the Parkland survivors were actors, a step they did not take after other recent mass shootings, such as last October’s massacre in Las Vegas.
At every turn, trolls, conspiracy theorists and others have proved to be more adept at taking advantage of exactly what the
sites were created to do — encourage people to post almost anything they want — than the companies are at catching them.
In the past, the companies typically addressed specific types of content only when it
was illegal — posts from terrorist organizations, for example — Mr. Morgan said.
Those who post conspiracy theories also tend to quickly repost or engage with similar posts from other accounts, creating a sort of viral effect
that can cause the sites’ algorithms to promote the content as a trending topic or a recommended video, said David Carroll, a professor at the New School who studies tech platforms.
One clip that had drawn more than 77,000 views by Friday described the shooting survivors as “disaster performers” instead of “crisis actors.”
Other videos that were not about the Parkland survivors but that called the entire shooting into question also stayed online.