On June 1, a hashtag trended on Twitter that sparked wild speculation: Has Washington DC been disconnected from the wireless network and internet?
It started at 1 a.m. local time (9 a.m. in this country) on June 1st: The hashtag #DCBlackout suddenly started trending on Twitter, many accounts reported that there was no longer any network in Washington DC, and people were also getting more of my messages from users there. Internet and radio networks are said to have been switched off.
#DCBlackout This picture is the last we saw before all media was cut at 1am. An entire city was on fire and suddenly went silent. We have no idea what is happening, we don't know if the protesters are safe. No news channels are covering this. Something awful is going on. pic.twitter.com/wXrE3RPaO1
— carls (@truffulatre) June 1, 2020
Washington DC is one of the flashpoints of the protests that followed the death of George Floyd; the police used tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators.
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Viral spread
The hashtag #DCBlackout was used over half a million times on Twitter within a few hours and caused general unrest on social media: as in a totalitarian state, all communication connections were actually cut off so that nothing about the protests leaked out and demonstrators could not use their smartphones can organize?
Proofs? None!
At first the hashtag was only used sporadically and then became widespread as more and more users wrote more and more claims:
There is NO INFO coming from DC right now. No streams, no posts, pics or vids. All the streams went down at the same time.
They're going to start killing and are trying to hide it via jammers.
Boost this to get the word out #dcprotest #dcblackout #GeorgeFloyd Washington Monument— 🍄mars 🍄 (@MarcieMushrooms) June 1, 2020
Of course, technology specialists then became aware of the claim, but surprisingly they were unable to detect a blackout in Washington and the surrounding area:
ℹ️ Real-time network data from Washington, DC show no indication of a mass-scale internet disruption overnight or through the last 48 hours.
Observable fixed-line and cellular connectivity remain stable at the present time. We continue monitoring #DCBlackout pic.twitter.com/8PWR9oRRO5
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) June 1, 2020
“Real-time network data from Washington, DC shows no evidence of mass internet disruption overnight or during the past 48 hours.
Observable fixed and mobile connectivity currently remains stable.”
Nevertheless, people continued to tweet about a #DCBlacout - curiously enough, including from many Washington DC residents who wanted to test whether there really was a blackout and thus the best proof that there wasn't one.
Of course, there were a large number of reporters in Washington DC that night who reported on the riots and constantly sent their pictures, videos and reports to their editorial offices - but they also did not notice a blackout during the night, like a reporter from ABC7 here, for example News clarifies:
A lot of people are asking me about a possible #dcblackout . I've been out near the White House since 4 am and haven't experienced any outage. My friend and colleague @ABC7HeatherGraf was covering the DC protests last night and was posting multiple updates. pic.twitter.com/ag1cuY3MOD
— Victoria Sanchez (@VictoriaSanchez) June 1, 2020
After it became increasingly clear that #DCBlackout was disinformation, Twitter intervened: the hashtag was removed from trending topics, and many mostly fairly new accounts that repeatedly used the hashtag were deleted.
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Conclusion
The question still remains as to why the hashtag went viral in the first place. Snopes ' colleagues interviewed the Washington County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and were told that there was evidence of a targeted disinformation campaign, and the evidence was forwarded to the local police department, federal authorities and the FBI.
Even now, many accounts are still discussing the #DCBlackout and asking themselves why the media isn't reporting on it - an event that only existed in the social media rumor mill.
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )


Article image: Shutterstock / By Orhan Cam
Other sources: BBC , Reuters , Netzpolitik , Snopes , Mother Jones , Business Insider