Google and YouTube promote fake news about Texas shooting suspect

Platforms offer search results that falsely say Devin Kelley was linked to anti-fascist and leftwing groups, a month after reforms at YouTube

Sam Levin in San Francisco
Monday 6 November 2017 20.57 GMT

Google and YouTube spread fake news and propaganda about a Texas mass shooting suspect, one month after the video-sharing site adopted reforms meant to restrict the promotion of misinformation during breaking news events.

Search results on both platforms have amplified the false news that Devin Kelley, the man accused of killing 26 people in a Sutherland Springs church on Sunday, was linked to anti-fascist and leftwing movements. Twitter also prominently promoted an article from a Russian state-funded news organization, which initially published unsubstantiated claims about Kelley’s political beliefs.

The rapid proliferation of fabricated politicized content has become a common feature of social media in the aftermath of mass shootings in the US. But the latest wave of propaganda in Texas was particularly significant given YouTube’s recent claims that it implemented changes to counter the problem and prioritize legitimate news during national tragedies.

After a Las Vegas gunman committed the deadliest US mass shooting in modern history last month, YouTube promoted a wide range of videos claiming the massacre was a hoax or a government-staged conspiracy featuring actors posing as victims. One day after survivors and victims’ relatives condemned the Google-owned platform, YouTube said it was making tweaks to its algorithm so that reliable content would appear more prominently.

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