How to use social media: Spread truth to stop riots

The far-right, specifically those who fervently support and follow every word of former President Donald Trump, have heavily disrupted the way people obtain information, causing disorder, culminating with the Jan. 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol, a disastrous mark on history. Such was the precise influence of false information spread online and the hypocrisy and influence of the far-right wing.

The media, including platforms popular with millennials and Generation Z like Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok, all spread misinformation based on fraudulent messages from the former president and his most fervent followers. Because those platforms promote posts based on emotional connections (e.g., “likes”) rather than logical thinking, unwary people were pulled into chiming along, and an angry mob was created.

The Capitol riot and continued protest against fair, legal and certified election results are a heavy example of the power of misleading, unchecked online messages, posted and reposted by people with hypocritical beliefs to stir up unrest and support of a dangerous and, as of Jan. 20, illegitimate leader.

The hypocrisy of their messages should be clear to anyone at a school where critical thinking is encouraged. After repeating messages like Black Lives Matter (BLM) is antifa and “I am your president of law and order,” the Jan. 6 rioters fought with police officers, killing one. This needs to be made clear: The rioters did exactly what they condemned the BLM protesters for doing, violently protesting, despite the fact that the vast majority of BLM protesters were non-violent. But peaceful BLM protesters were tear-gassed and pushed off the street on June 1, 2020, so Donald Trump could have a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church, while the Jan. 6 rioters simply walked out of the Capitol when they had finished looting and destroying things and literally spreading their feces through the hallowed halls of democracy.

To top it off, the Capitol rioters stormed the reporters and destroyed media equipment. While they had experienced dangerous events before, many said that during the riot, they were in the most danger they ever felt.

As student journalists, we have been accused on social media and in person of spreading “fake news,” and we have read and heard threats of physical violence and administrative referral for what we have printed. And for 11 years, Tornado Times staffers have accepted these accusations and threats as part of the job. As a bit of journalist folklore says, “Journalism is what somebody doesn’t want published.”

But now we’re calling on you, our fellow students, to do more. The disclaimers and suspensions that Twitter and other social media platforms have enforced on Trump will not stop all the fraudulent claims online. You can help stop it by going online and posting the correct messages and information to help. Journalists like us work hard to fact-check and spread accurate information, but every bit of truth helps prevent events like the Capitol riot — or worse. So go online, research the proper information, prove fraudulent information wrong and help us fight the lies by spreading the truth.