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(Reuters) - Online misinformation that led to violent unrest at the Capitol last week has gone beyond false claims and has reached the point of “radicalization,” researchers told a Reuters Next panel on Tuesday.
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“This is not about false claims, or even conspiracies, but many of the people at the Capitol are now part of a completely alternate reality,” said Claire Wardle, co-founder of anti-disinformation non-profit First Draft.
She added that people must stop thinking about online conspiracies as existing separately from real-world harm: “They’re not just sitting at home in their pajamas clicking ‘yes I agree,’ they’re out there with . guns and pipe bombs.”
By Syndicated Content
By Elizabeth Culliford
(Reuters) - Online misinformation that led to violent unrest at the Capitol last week has gone beyond false claims and has reached the point of radicalization, researchers told a Reuters Next panel on Tuesday. This is not about false claims, or even conspiracies, but many of the people at the Capitol are now part of a completely alternate reality, said Claire Wardle, co-founder of anti-disinformation non-profit First Draft.
She added that people must stop thinking about online conspiracies as existing separately from real-world harm: They re not just sitting at home in their pajamas clicking yes I agree, they re out there with . guns and pipe bombs.
11:30 AM MYT
Workers cleaning an office at the US Capitol building in Washington, D.C., US, on Jan 7, 2021. That the rioters may have had access to logged in work stations – meaning their owners fled before logging out – means that congressional passwords, encryption standards and routing should be revised in the coming weeks. Bloomberg
US federal authorities are assessing the cybersecurity risks created by rioters roaming freely through congressional offices during the Jan 6 rampage at the US Capitol, including missing laptops and computers that were left unsecured.
While there is no indication that hacking into computer networks was a goal of the rioters, at least three computers were reported missing and the potential exists that the intruders gained access to sensitive systems when members of Congress and their staff hastily took cover, according to cybersecurity experts. As a result, the House and the Senate should devote resources to mitigating any potential vulnerabil