The bullet that almost fatally targeted Donald Trump in July 2024 has finally marked internet culture and the debate that has stirred up social media.
The then presidential candidate was in Butler, Pennsylvania as part of his campaign. During his speech, shots rang out and he was found slumped behind the podium, clutching his bleeding ear. Members of the Secret Service rushed to his aid and after he was helped to his feet, Trump raised his fist and shouted emphatically to the crowd “Fight! Fight! Fight!».
That moment of attempted assassination left its mark on the most pivotal events of the year and, therefore, on social media.
Almost immediately after the attempt, users flooded social networks in an attempt to explain the incident, comment on it or even condemn it. This, combined with the controversial personality of Donald Trump, led to the incident becoming the number one topic of discussion on the internet. Memes, hashtags, articles, tweets, audio-visual material – whether native or AI-derived – and conspiracy theories gathered millions of users around the issue.
What do computers and numbers say?
The dynamics of the event are clearly captured through data and the various forms it took.
Features, of his assassination attempt Fox Newswas viewed over 12 million times in total on YouTubewhile 6 million views gathered the her Washington Postwhich captures the incident from the perspective of a photojournalist.
Photo: EPA
On the platform X (formerly Twitter) posted over 98,000 retweets in 3 days from leading global news accounts, while on Tik Tokthe hashtag #Trump gathered over 668 million views within a week.
The incident was of course also commented on by celebrities, an element that strengthened its rapid spread, with Elon Musk’s tweet playing a prominent role, which signaled Trump’s support, with the first being republished over 400 thousand times!
Tra himself could not be missing from the statisticsb, with the monthly traffic of his platform, Truth Socialto exceed 5.67 million, the largest audience since its creation day as of 2022, while its followers on Instagram increased by 1 million in 1 week!
The data does give a picture of the great impact the event had, but the content itself, illuminates important aspects that developed on social media.
Filters and frames
The structure of social media is such that it facilitates ‘virality’, as it has transformed users from passive recipients to potential content creators.
From “a picture is worth a thousand words”, in the social media ecosystem now, a picture (may) equal… thousands of allegorical memes, controversial hashtags, misleading artificial intelligence products and conspiracy theories. All of the above we watched vividly (among others) on popular social media after July 13th.
But what was it that “triggered” in this case the reframing of the event?
in fact, that, following intense events from which confusion and ambiguity emerge, it is almost expected that people will gather in communities to try to understand, explain, and sometimes simply comment, through a process known as collective meaning-making.
In this case, the most important contexts created, depending on the filters applied by each user community, involved, among other things, speculation about the motives and identity of the perpetrator, criticism of the media and the secret services, but also the emergence of elements of pop culture, such as images and memes with strong use of artificial intelligence, and of course conspiracy theories.
— Arne (@ArnePoparne)
Tweet by Arne @ArnePoparne on the X platform
Satirical memes of Trump with his ear tied as someone else predictions of but also processed with artificial intelligence, made the rounds of the internet. On the same wavelength, the technology company revealed that bots on social media amplified false claims, with 45% of accounts using hashtags such as #fakeassassination and #stagedshooting to be unauthentic. In turn the above hashtags were used to amplify and spread conspiracy theories.
“Directed? Directed!”
The fact that Donald Trump’s assassination attempt was the first to take place in the digital age provided fertile ground for misinformation and conspiracy theories to grow and spread rapidly. The latter in particular were involved, as they were the only means to fill the information gap that had been created, playing a decisive role in the online footprint of the event.
In effect, conspiracy theories maintain a narrative that is durable, shared, and redefined. If nothing else, no matter how extreme such a theory presents, it does not cease to offer the illusion of an explanation and by extension a feeling of connection with what is going on.
Conspiracy theories, basically as to the causes of the attempt, were circulated by both Republicans and Democrats. The former blamed outgoing President Joe Biden, speaking of “parastate” or “failed coup” practices. And the Democrats categorically characterized the event as “staged” and “fake”, in order to strengthen the profile of Trump as a – then – candidate for President. After all, the numbers speak for themselves; the word “directed” was the second most popular interaction on X’s platform after the name of the current President, even garnering millions of views. Of course, the fact that 45% of the above hashtags were created by fake accounts, demonstrates the instrumentalization of fear in times of uncertainty and the risk of misinformation. However, both theories were debunked by the secret services.
The rapid and intensified transmission of these conspiracy theories is inextricably linked to the spread of so-called fake news.. Although an oxymoron as a term, it particularly permeated the discussion on social platforms about the assassination attempt and, as a phenomenon, was greatly aided by their algorithms.
It is known that users interact with the content they wish to see and therefore, are limited to the views that are consistent with their own. This condition, known as reverberation chamberconstitutes the basis of (deliberate) misinformation to a large extent.
The concept of works similarly filtration pocketin which the algorithm, depending on what kind of content the user chooses to consume, ends up promoting to him only what he is interested in engaging with. Hence, such a strong presence of disinformation or conspiracy on social media, especially on X· the users themselves chose them consciously, because they corresponded to the reality they want, and the algorithm intensified them.
A dark river
In short, the assassination attempt on Trump on July 13, 2024 had all the makings of what we call today in internet terms, viral: controversial figure, murderous act, visual symbols, emotionally charged language, and polarized politics. America’s climate.
If we were to turn it into a picture it would probably look like a river that has swelled and is rushing along opinions, comments, new perspectives, new approaches, narratives and of course conspiracy speculation. The worrying thing in the case of virality is that all of the above is washed away in front of social media users; impetuous and exuberant, without a barrier!
In the online world, lightning popularity phenomena can jeopardize the correct information of the public. Citizen digital literacy, content control from major platforms and news verification are more critical than ever!
Trump’s emphatically raised fist is perhaps the sign we’ve been waiting for – according to the well-known media trend – to fight against misinformation and a safer digital environment!
The image was digitally created with the help of AI.
*Eleni Kountoumadi is a member of J-Lab and an undergraduate student at the Department of Communication, Media and Culture of Panteion University.
**Konstantina-Maria Platnari is a member of J-Lab and a postgraduate student in the Digital Transformation Program at Panteion University.
