Summary

Following a school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, false claims that the 15-year-old female shooter was transgender spread widely on X (formerly Twitter).

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and conservative accounts amplified these baseless speculations, with posts collectively garnering millions of views.

Police later confirmed no evidence linking the shooter to transgender identity.

Experts and advocates condemned the spread of anti-trans narratives, which they say distract from addressing gun violence and foster fear in LGBTQ communities.

Similar false claims have arisen after prior shootings, despite no factual basis for such connections.

  • Chozo@fedia.io
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    1 day ago

    You’d think Jones would have learned to shut the fuck up about school shootings by now.

    • Xbeam@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      He’s not mentally capable enough to shut up. All he ever had to do with Sandy Hook was stop talking about it and he couldn’t do it. It doesn’t help that he still hasn’t had any actual consequences.

    • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      Honestly, why would he? The legal action has been fairly toothless, and haven’t been trying super hard to stop more than the worst of his embezzlement. Sure they’re going to liquidate and close Infowars (which is basically worthless without Jones), but he’s already setting up all kinds of shell companies and new operations to move his listeners to.

      I’d like to hope they’ll keep coming after his new shit, but their kid gloves so far have only encouraged him to keep at it while only moderating his speech enough to not get him in the same water.