As protests unfold in Los Angeles, misinformation spreads alongside the facts
Day laborers detained outside of a Home Depot. Protesters marching. Hundreds of people arrested. National Guard and U.S. Marines deployed.
Days of demonstrations against federal immigration raids in Los Angeles have fueled round-the-clock news coverage and a number of misleading social media posts, including unrelated videos being mislabeled or shared out of context.
Protests broke out across Los Angeles on June 6, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided workplaces and confronted day laborers, arresting 44 people who allegedly violated immigration law. Many of the demonstrations have been peaceful, but there also have been outbursts of violence. The Los Angeles Police Department arrested hundreds of people on charges including failure to disperse, looting and vandalism.
Related stories
Related Knowledge Center: Democracy and politics
News organizations are scrambling to find a coverage approach that adequately informs the American public about the country’s slide from democracy to authoritarian rule.
Related Knowledge Center: Free speech and public protest
The First Amendment is facing challenging times: Crackdowns on campus protests prompted both-sides claims of intolerance. Attempts to head off dangerous health misinformation have been characterized as violations of free speech. Donald Trump is publicly punishing news outlets that deviate from his administration’s version of events while privately suing some outlets into submission.
The White House vs. the press | Voiceless America
Related Knowledge Center: Information integrity
In an increasingly fractured media landscape, truth has been a casualty in the public discussion. Coverage has been warped by the business needs of struggling news organizations, and a significant segment of the public relies on bad-faith outlets that are little more than propagandists. While fact-checking has become routine, some organizations are exploring other ways to combat the trends. And misinformation spewed by AI-driven chatbots has become more of a feature than simply a bug.
Fact-checking and its detractors