Search ‘Las Vegas shooting’ on YouTube, and a

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Search ‘Las Vegas shooting’ on YouTube, and a conspiracy theory might be the first hit

By Jesse Ferreras National Online Journalist Global News

The very first result in a YouTube search for “Las Vegas shooting” on Wednesday was a video that alleged gunshots came from the fourth floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, rather than from the 32nd.

In the video, a Vancouver-based YouTube user known as Squatting Slav TV showed images of a flashing light coming from a room on a lower floor of the building.


The first result that showed up in a search for “Las Vegas shooting” on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017.

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He used those images to advance a theory, called “false” by Snopes, that there were multiple shooters involved in the deadliest mass shooting in American history.

But that’s just one video that advances a debunked theory that can be found when you look for almost anything about the Las Vegas shooting on YouTube. Other videos allege that the attack was a “false flag hoax” or that there were “fake gunshots.”

The search results were enough to frustrate people whose loved ones were shot in the attack, or who witnessed it themselves, The Guardian reported Wednesday.

“It’s not a conspiracy,” Krista Metz, who was standing near the stage at the Route 91 Harvest festival when the shooting started on Sunday, told the newspaper.

“It’s not a joke. It did happen. I was there.”

The theory about multiple shooters originated with websites that had a “less than nodding acquaintance with journalistic integrity,” according to Snopes.

One site, YourNewsWire, reported Monday that there were two videos which alleged there were numerous shooters in a “co-ordinated attack.”

YourNewsWire is known for “inserting itself into tragedies to push the anti-semitic New World Order conspiracy theory,” Snopes said when fact-checking the rumour.

For its part, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) has so far shot down theories that there was more than one shooter on Sunday night.

“I want to emphasize we believe Paddock is solely responsible for this heinous act,” LVMPD Asst. Sheriff Todd Fasulo said, as quoted by ABC.

“We are aware of the rumours outside of the media and also on social media that there was more than one assailant. We have no information or evidence to support that theory, or that rumour.
“We are doing a thorough investigation and only want to provide what is accurate to you.”

Even as law enforcement have worked to debunk such rumours, conspiracy theories nevertheless abounded in YouTube searches this week.

FastCompany reported that on Tuesday morning, it found five conspiracy-related videos in the top 13 results when it searched for “Las Vegas shooting” on the site’s main search bar.

While such videos have stayed out of YouTube’s news section, content featuring “false flag” narratives and other theories has nevertheless pulled in millions of views, FastCompany noted.

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