Months ahead of the crucial presidential elections in the US, Donald Trump became the target of an apparent assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania. This came days before the former president was scheduled to accept the Republican nomination for a third time.
While law enforcement officials are trying to determine the motive behind the 20-year-old opening fire from a nearby rooftop, the word 'Staged' became a trend on social media in the country within minutes of the attack.
This word has become synonymous with extreme conspiracy theories across social media platforms, being frequently used to question the veracity of an attack or shooting.
In the last 24 hours, it has overtaken other topics in popular internet discourse, as millions of views have been received by posts on X that are filled with unsupported rumours, hate speech, and abuse, BBC reported.
However, it must be noted that conspiracy theories have historically been drawn to assassination attempts on US presidents, with the most well-known example being the assassination of John F Kennedy back in November 1963. As it was the first to occur in real-time, it was unsurprising that false reports took off, the report stated.
The trend was not just limited to committed groups of political supporters and was actively recommended in users' "For You" feeds as they tried to make sense of what had happened. Further, it was frequently posted by individuals having blue ticks, thereby providing their posts more prominence.
Questions raised
Some of these conspiracy theories centred on the alleged security failings, with social media users questioning how such a thing could happen.
"It looks very staged... Nobody in the crowd is running or panicking. Nobody in the crowd heard an actual gun. I don't trust it. I don't trust him," read a post that received millions of views.
Later, the post was labelled with a note pointing out the shooting was real.
Moreover, these conspiracy theories were further compounded by the photographs and videos that later came out. In particular, one photograph showed the former US president's fist raised, having blood on his face and ear, while the US flag can be seen in the background.
The image was just "too damn perfect," a US-based YouTuber stated and further emphasised how they managed to get "the flag positioned perfect and everything".
However, this post, which received nearly a million views, was later removed by the person who shared it.
Another X user wrote, "Staged to get sympathy? You can't trust these people with anything and no, I'm not going to pray for him".
However, the BBC report highlighted that most of these viral posts came from left-leaning users, often seen posting anti-Trump views.
