Hoax AI image of Pentagon attack reveals pitfalls of Twitter verified account mess

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This morning blue check accounts accounts claimed large explosions at the Pentagon.

… then the White House.

Russian state media amplified the faked Pentagon image from their gold check account.

The images look AI generated, as folks identified. 1/ pic.twitter.com/Bd9uu3jwPZ

— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) May 22, 2023

New: Wrote about the AI photo that sent stocks down on Monday AM. The first image appears to have been posted by a QAnon account on Facebook, which saw little engagement.

Then it was picked up by Twitter Blue verified accounts and RT, and exploded online: https://t.co/Ti5MoR7Plw

— Davey Alba (@daveyalba) May 22, 2023

Per reporting from @daveyalba & @oneunderscore__, the spread of this fake Pentagon image was instigated by QAnon accounts on Facebook & Twitter. The QAnon community over the years has regularly helped spread misinformation online (it's what got me focused on QAnon to begin with). https://t.co/YvvTtGn6qX

— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) May 23, 2023

Today's pentagon explosion fake was everyone-warned-this-would-happen bingo:

☑️Fake terror attack story from blue checks
☑️Media impersonation bluechecks
☑️Official accounts w/stripped verification
☑️Russian state-run media seeding chaos
☑️Twitter falling flat on image labeling

— John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) May 22, 2023

Over the past 6 months, prominent QAnon influencers have had their accounts reinstated on @twitter, and QAnon content is once again flourishing on the platform. New research by the ADL Center on Extremism highlights this worrying development: https://t.co/oaUXyCVyIG

— ADL (@ADL) May 22, 2023

New from me: I wrote about the death of Dr. Rashid Buttar, a longtime figure in the anti-vaccine and medical conspiracy theory world, whose sudden death last week is being used to promote various conspiracy theories. https://t.co/uDCeY6W34E

— Anna Merlan (@annamerlan) May 22, 2023

Good article about a mom who fell down the wellness —> QAnon pipeline, and got out, starting with her shock at a friend's anti-trans rant. In almost all the stories I've heard of people getting out, it starts with one thing that doesn't add up.https://t.co/NUVyDHPdIR

— Mike Rothschild (no relation) (@rothschildmd) May 22, 2023

Looks like Truth Social launched a "group" feature beta similar to Gab on Friday where you can create/join public or private groups that have their own separate newsfeeds.

Some of the largest & most promoted are, unsurprisingly, brazenly affiliated with QAnon pic.twitter.com/lNwLO01Ld5

— Alex Mendela (@AlxnderThaGr8) May 22, 2023

This (meme? collage? diorama?) is a top post on the Trump forum TheDonald today. This makes complete sentence to people on this website.

I cannot stress how Terminally Online Trumpworld is now. Completely inscrutable. pic.twitter.com/Q1Z5Otnv1o

— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) May 22, 2023

Speaker at Trump Doral claims watching CNN, shopping at Walmart or Nike, or having a Bud Light, hands “bullets to the CCP to shoot our kids with.” pic.twitter.com/2bWDXJNIqM

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) May 22, 2023