False claims about the shooter at a Christian elementary school in Nashville have been swirling on social media. Police shot and killed the suspect, whom they identified as 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale. The person was not named “Samantha Hyde” — a reference to a long-running internet hoax.
Police identified the suspect in the Feb. 13 mass shooting at Michigan State University as Anthony Dwayne McRae, who shot and killed himself. But a viral internet hoax used the photo of another man and falsely claimed that the suspect was named “Lynn Dee Walker.”
A thoroughly debunked hoax claiming that Instagram users can stop the platform from using their pictures if they post a statement rescinding permission has been circulating again. This time, it ensnared a member of the Trump administration.
Q: Was a teen sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing a refugee who raped his sister?
A: No. That is a made-up headline on an old internet hoax story.