Free Essay. Centerville Chemical Explosion

Disinformation literally refers to deliberate or unintentional messages created to deceive the recipients. It is misleading information with intention, unlike misinformation which is information that may mislead without the intention (Chen, 2015). In this paper, research on the chemical plant explosion in Centerville is carried out, the message it conveyed, disinformation about the blast, really if the explosion occurred and the implication, how it played on social media, the intention of the author, the intended targets and another related incident of disinformation.

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The explosion on the Columbian chemical plant occurred on 11th September 2014 in Centerville that followed a series of circulating videos and pictures on social media. The blast was of great concern to the people as it happened while the Columbians were on the anniversary of the attack on 11th September 2001 (Chen, 2015). From the social media Twitter platform, the post implied that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) were responsible for the attack (Chen, 2015).

News by CNN reports the screenshots of the Twitter message alleged to originate from ISIS creating more fear in the people. However, the explosion never occurred, and the crisis was just a hoax generated by producers and media programmers showing Centerville in a blaze of fire and smoke. The videos and pictures created included the home screen of CNN which brought out the impression that the news was really credible (Chen, 2015). The hoax producers launched a series of post-re-tweeting bots with the hashtag "#Columbianchemical" attacking the attention of Twitter users and finally warning alert text of hazardous toxic fumes forcing people to take shelter the massage also encouraged people to be alert on local media for updates (Chen, 2015). The hoax was created with the intention of undermining confidence in democracy in the United States. Clearly, it demonstrates how disinformation possibly can result in panic to the public (Fuchs et al. 2017).

Other great known hoax is the Lisa, a Russian teenager girl who was alleged to be raped and kidnapped in berlin by Arabian refugees. Despite the truth being reveled shortly after the news of the incident that the teenager was in her boyfriend's place and that she lied about where she was, the media promoted the story actively prompting demonstration by the foreign Russian in Germany in demand for justice (Molis et al. 2018). According to Germany head of domestic security, the Russian government was using a KGB style to misinform the public hence destabilizing the country. Disinformation is seen as the only way Russia could target Angela Merkel a Germany chancellor who advocates against harsh Russian policies (Molis et al. 2018).

Similar to Lisa disinformation is the troop of Germany in command of NATO. The troop was accused of raping a Lithuanian girl aged 15 through a fake letter (Abrams, 2016). The news about the raped was flagged in the media to interfere with the operation of NATO. However, the hoax about the troop disinformation did not take much effect as it was discovered it was a ploy by Russian to undermine the troop (Abrams, 2016). Disinformation is a deception that can result in public outcry, political instability, cold war and panic to the public if the deception is not realized.

References

Abrams, S. (2016). Beyond propaganda: Soviet active measures in Putin's Russia. Connections: The Quarterly Journal, 15(1), 5-31.

Chen, A. (2015). The agency. The New York Times, 2(6), 2015.Fuchs, M. H., Kenney, C., Perina, A., & VanDoorn, F. (2017). Why Americans Should Care about Russian Hacking. Center for American Progress.

Molis, A., Palazzo, C., & Ainsalu, K. (2018). Mitigating Risks of Hybrid War: Search for an Effective Energy Strategyin the Baltic States. Journal on Baltic Security, 1(ahead-of-print).