Mass shooting rumor in Facebook Group shows private chats are not
risk-free
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[October 10, 2019] By
Bryan Pietsch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ahead of the annual
Blueberry Festival in Marshall County, Indiana, in early September, a
woman broadcast a warning to her neighbors on Facebook.
"I just heard there's supposed to be a mass shooting tonight at the
fireworks," the woman, whose name is held to protect her privacy, said
in a post in a private Facebook Group with over 5,000 members. "Probably
just a rumor or kids trying to scare people, but everyone keep their
eyes open," she said in the post, which was later deleted.
There was no shooting at the Blueberry Festival that night, and the
local police said there was no threat.
But the post sparked fear in the community, with some group members
canceling their plans to attend, and shows the power of rumors in
Facebook Groups, which are often private or closed to outsiders. Groups
allow community members to quickly spread information, and possibly
misinformation, to users who trust the word of their neighbors.
These groups and other private features, rather than public feeds, are
"the future" of social media, Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark
Zuckerberg said in April, revealing their importance to Facebook's
business model.
The threat of misinformation spreading rapidly in Groups shows a
potential vulnerability in a key part of the company’s growth strategy.
It could push Facebook to invest in expensive human content monitoring
at the risk of limiting the ability to post in real time, a central
benefit of Groups and Facebook in general that has attracted millions of
users to the platform.
When asked if Facebook takes accountability for situations like the one
in Indiana, a company spokeswoman said it is committed to maintaining
groups as a safe place, and that it encourages people to contact law
enforcement if they see a potential threat.
Facebook Groups can also serve as a tool for connecting social
communities around the world, such as ethnic groups, university alumni
and hobbyists.
Facebook's WhatsApp messaging platform faced similar but more serious
problems in 2018 after false messages about child abductors led to mass
beatings of more than a dozen people in India, some of whom have died.
WhatsApp later limited message forwards and began labeling forwarded
messages to quell the risk of fake news.
FIREWORKS FEAR
The Blueberry Festival post caused chaos in the group, named "Local News
Now 2...(Marshall and all surrounding Counties)."
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Facebook logo is reflected in glasses in this picture illustration
taken April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/Illustration
In another post, which garnered over 100 comments of confusion and worry, a
different member urged the woman to report the threat to the police. "This isn't
something to joke about or take lightly," she wrote.
The author of the original post did not respond to repeated requests for
comment.
Facebook's policy is to remove language that "incites or facilitates serious
violence," the company spokeswoman said, adding that it did not remove the post
and that it did not violate Facebook's policies because there "was no threat,
praise or support of violence."
Cheryl Siddall, the founder of the Indiana group, said she would welcome tools
from Facebook to give her greater "control" over what people post in the group,
such as alerts to page moderators if posts contain certain words or phrases.
But Siddall said, "I'm sorry, but that's a full-time job to sit and monitor
everything that's going on in the page."
A Facebook spokeswoman said page administrators have the ability to remove a
post if it violates the group's proprietary rules and that administrators can
pre-approve individual posts, as well as turn on post approvals for individual
group members.
In a post to its blog, Facebook urged administrators to write "great group
rules" to "set the tone for your group and help prevent member conflict," as
well as "provide a feeling of safety for group members."
David Bacon, chief of police for the Plymouth Police Department in Marshall
County, said the threat was investigated and traced back to an exaggerated rumor
from children. Nonetheless, he said the post to the Facebook group is "what
caused the whole problem."
"One post grows and people see it, and they take it as the gospel, when in
actuality you can throw anything you want out there," Bacon said.
(Reporting by Bryan Pietsch; Editing by Chris Sanders)
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