Most trending fake stories in February-March 22, 2024 are on #KateMiddleton, then after her straightforward announcement of cancer diagnosis, she trended two days on sympathy for her, with one or two speculative threads of stories, then no fake stories trending anymore after two days. Public Information 101.
Here’s a list of the top trending fake stories in that period (this is just based on my random visits of timelines)
February to March 22, 2024
1.That she died.
2.That she is in a coma.
3.That she was beaten black and blue by the prince
4.That the husband is having an affair (complete with innocent photos of the other party etc., generating more engagement in terms of cursing the “other woman”, and material for jokes and gags from stand up comics like TV late night show comedian Stephen Colbert. More ratings, ads, and jobs. )
5.That she herself is having an affair (complete with photos of the other party, etc. and more engagement)
6.That the husband sired extramarital children (complete with innocent photos of children)
7.That she herself got pregnant with an extramarital child (complete with unrelated photos)
8.Continuous non-stop DV (domestic violence) (complete with discussion of “eyewitnesses”)
9.Divorce (complete with comments from “experts)
10.She was kidnapped/detained by the Royal Family to silence her (complete with “reliable” unnamed. i.e, non-existing, sources)
11.That she has bulimia, nervous breakdown, mental and emotional instability, and undergoing therapy (complete with photos showing a small bandage on her finger with “experts” explaining what the bandage is for)
12.That she has resigned from her royal duties.
And… DRUMROLL… competing for first place and second place are:
13 or first place: The doctored photos from her publicists
14.Fake video from the same source.
(did we miss anything — please add your own stories to the list).
Wait. One more thing.
NO ONE GOT IT RIGHT.
Got it? …
And finally: No alien abduction story made it in any platform — aw, i’m disappointed. Maybe next time.
To release information about her condition or not is entirely her call. Only those who are in the same health situation can imagine how devastating this is. Anyone battling a life-threatening condition regardless of gender, race, nationality, economic status, etc deserve sympathy – some more than others especially those who have no access to a medical team and to universal health care.
And no one deserves to be a victim of fake stories regardless of gender, race, nationality, economic status.
Those who are involved in media studies can look at it from all angles: media literacy, fake stories, etc. etc.
Post-announcement, there were no more fake stories trending, only one or two speculative stories as follows:
1.She was an AI-generated image and video – she really died a month ago.
2.It was her double (her stunt double) in the video.
4.She was not entirely medically accurate in her description of the medical diagnosis.
(she couched it in general terms. Well. i think she may have downplayed it — for her children).
BUT THE FAKE STORIES STOPPED TRENDING.
Public information 101.
(We hope for a speedy recovery for all who are suffering from life-threatening ailments, and we join the campaign for universal health care and medical facilities accessible to the poor and underprivileged. )
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