YouTube promoted a video that falsely attacked David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland school massacre, as a crisis actor. The video, which had more than 200,000 views, was listed as the top trending item on that Wednesday morning. The clip was a news report from the summer before the shooting, in which Hogg happened to appear.
The caption claimed that the video showed “DAVID HOGG THE ACTOR” by “MGTV also known as Marcus Goldfinch TV, now known as Qanon poster GEORGE NEWS.”
This is a clear reference to a false conspiracy theory that Hogg is a paid crisis actor. Despite increased scrutiny on social media companies, the Hogg video demonstrates that viral falsehoods still benefit from the algorithms that define our online experiences.
YouTube has since taken down the video for violating its policies, but “MGTV also known as Marcus Goldfinch TV, now known as Qanon poster GEORGE NEWS” is still on the platform.
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