Various rumors have been spreading on social media–even Twitter, which usually moderates false claims–following the Paris attacks on November 13th, 2015. We recently reported on Trump’s misattributed tweet earlier, and now we highlight another claim that is spreading in this emotionally charged environment: that 10,000 Syrian refugees (that’s apparently them in the image below, notably all young men) have recently arrived in New Orleans.
10,000 Syrian refugees have not arrived in New Orleans. The image, according to snopes, was taken in Hungary in September 2015. This claim, fueled by the emotional climate on social media due to the Paris attacks, a combination of anger, fear and increasing xenophobia, vastly inflated the reality of only two Syrian refugee families arriving in New Orleans. (Yet, the arrival has caused backlash from Louisiana republicans, including presidential candidate Bobby Jindal, adding to the momentum of false claims).
Like the Trump tweet claim, this story has moderate spread for a false claim (as observed by TwitterTrails), and also very low skepticism. Very little fact checking has affected the emotional spread of this claim.
If you are familiar with the Twittertrails.com system you can explore the story on TwitterTrails, or keep reading to see how strong emotions manifest in the spreading of rumors on Twitter.
http://twittertrails.wellesley.edu/~trails/stories/investigate.php?id=647751846