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On Thursday afternoon, Donald Trump Jr. asked for America’s help in identifying the suspected shooter of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. After posting just two photos of the suspect, at-home sleuths sprung to action.
Don Jr.’s screenshot quickly led to false accusations that, based on mere resemblance and a fabricated tweet, crypto influencer Gainzy could have been the shooter.
Failing to cite the New York Police Department’s Crime Stoppers program or WANTED notice, Don Jr. simply encouraged random allegations against a variety of innocent individuals. Free to use AI, Photoshop, and all manner of doctored media created earned engagement on social media and civilians joined the finger-pointing spree.
The algorithm duly rewarded them for their efforts.
Gainzy looks kind of like the guy… that was enough?
Commenters posted dozens of low-effort accusations that fell flat on their face. Soon, however, one savvy X user, 0xRacist, went a step further, fabricating a clever s***post that has earned nearly 6 million impressions.
0xRacist fingered Gainzy — a popular crypto trader who was in Tel Aviv at the time of Thompson’s assassination — as the shooter. The made-at-home allegation featured a side-by-side photo of Crime Stoppers camera footage and a social media image of Gainzy who bears a slight, imperfect resemblance to the suspect.
Read more: Crypto security firms more concerned with social media clout than the details
Many were fooled. Inversebrah memorialized the event. Intelligent members of the crypto community laughed at how easy it is to farm engagement from X using false information.
Some crypto celebrities like Laura Shin and Udi Wertheimer considered the allegation so obviously false that they played along for fun, given that Gainzy was on the other side of the world during the incident.
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