The journey of a fake news story that begins with a single tweet
[...] his recent tweet about paid protesters being bused to demonstrations against President-elect Donald Trump fueled a nationwide conspiracy theory — one that Trump joined in promoting.
While some fake news is produced purposefully by teenagers in the Balkans or entrepreneurs in the United States seeking to make money from advertising, false information can also arise from misinformed social media posts by regular people that are seized on and spread through a hyperpartisan blogosphere.
Tucker, who had taken photos of a large group of buses he saw near downtown Austin earlier in the day because he thought it was unusual, saw reports of protests against Trump in the city and decided the two were connected.
Tucker said he had performed a Google search to see if any conferences were being held in the area but did not find anything.
A user on Free Republic, a conservative discussion forum, linked to the Reddit thread about Tucker’s post, increasing the attention and spreading it further into the online world.
Later, Facebook pages like Robertson Family Values, which is named for but not affiliated with the stars of “Duck Dynasty,” and Donald Trump Commander in Chief 2020, linked to the Free Republic discussion.
Sean Hughes, director of corporate affairs for the bus company Coach USA North America, said he learned about the rumor involving its vehicles after receiving a couple of curious emails and hearing from a friend in New Jersey who had seen the claim on Facebook and wanted to know if it was true.
A reporter at the Fox television station in Austin contacted Hughes later that day, and he responded with a statement noting that “at no point were Coach USA buses involved in the Austin protests.”
Around 6 p.m., the conservative blog Gateway Pundit posted a story using Tucker’s images under the headline Figures.
The post, which included a mention of “Soros money,” has been shared on Facebook more than 44,000 times, according to statistics on the website.
The story line became prominent on conservative blogs, with other sites incorporating Tucker’s tweet into posts about paid protesters, referring to him as an eyewitness in Austin.
[...] shortly after 9 p.m., Trump sent this tweet: Just had a very open and successful presidential election.
Doreen Jarman, a spokeswoman for Tableau, said the company issued a statement to the local television station KVUE and to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper on Nov. 11, saying the buses were connected to the company’s conference.
The rumor-checking website Snopes also debunked the claim that the buses were connected to any protests.
After midnight, Tucker deleted his original tweet, then posted an image of it stamped with the word “false” for posterity.