Internet trolls hijack women’s grief
Photos perpetuate conspiracy theory
When Emma MacDonald saw the tragedy unfolding at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, she felt a sense of dread.
She knew what would come next: the same lie that has been spreading for years.
It’s like clockwork. New life is given to the hurtful conspiracy after each tragedy.
MacDonald said she feels to blame because it’s her face that is used to promote one of the more persistent conspiracy theories over the past few years.
“Enough is enough,” said MacDonald, 25, of Boston. “This needs to go away.”
It started with a photo of MacDonald breaking down in tears during a vigil after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.
Conspiracy theorists took the image and pasted it alongside pictures of other women crying after mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo. — and the shooting in Parkland, Fla. All the women are white, thin and brunette.
The aim is to try to prove those grieving after the tragedies were actually the same person — an actress paid to respond to crises around the country.
The collage was used after the Manchester Arena bombing in England and a shooting in 2015 at a college in Roseburg, Ore., that left 10 dead, including the gunman.
“When you’re short on crisis actors,” the photo is labeled.
Conspiracy theories are nothing new. But the Internet and social media have made them more accessible.
MacDonald said she didn’t know anyone who died in the Boston bombings but went to a vigil a day after the attack April 15, 2013.
She got emotional after seeing a boy place a flower down during the vigil and started crying.
An Associated Press photographer captured the moment, and it ended up in newspapers across the country.
“I feel like I was very vulnerable in that image. I was sobbing uncontrollably, and every time I see it, I’m right back there and relive those moments,” MacDonald said. “I just feel awful for the victims and families of the other women because they lost loved ones and still have to deal with this madness. It’s just exploiting a tragedy.”
Friends, bosses and acquaintances have reached out to her over the years after seeing the theories online.
At first, she said, she tried to report those who posted the false narratives, but it became more of an uphill battle after each tragedy.
“Every time, it’s like, what do I do? Do I report every single blog post and try to debunk every theory?” she said. “Part of me genuinely didn’t even want to call attention to it because that’s just feeding the trolls.”
She reported one of the incidents Tuesday and hopes changes to Facebook and other social media platforms will help prevent the fake stories from spreading as quickly.
MacDonald said there has to be some way of stopping the flow of misinformation, and she hopes people will verify information before sharing it.
“I’m just some random girl in some random photo, and I hate it,” she said. “My face is used as a tool to these people. It’s used as a distraction to what’s really happening — the grief these people are feeling and the solutions that can help prevent against this from happening again.”