An odd social media meltdown, mental health collapse and the perils of trusting anything on social media
BethAnn McLaughlin invented @Sciencing_Bi, a Hopi anthropologist who died of COVID-19.
Source: #MeTooSTEM founder admits to creating Twitter persona who “died” of COVID-19 | Ars Technica
There have been a lot of activist accounts that convinced and persuaded many and became the source of media reports – because unverified social media is among the most reliable sources used by professional media outlets.
In this case, the entire social media persona was 100% fake. Now that it is known who did this, her credibility and her work are shattered.