When roadblocks, explosions and gunshots broke out after the killing of Mexico’s most powerful drug lord, people who rushed to their cellphones for information found social media posts depicting a country in chaos.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel responded to the massive Mexican army operation to capture Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho,” on Sunday with an even bigger wave of retaliatory violence in some 20 states. More than 70 people were killed.
But in addition to real accounts of death and destruction and the warnings from governments for their citizens to shelter in place, the internet was flooded with disinformation - fake videos and images generated by artificial intelligence. They were designed to stoke fear, Mexican officials said.
"We didn’t know what was true and what was false," said Victoria Elizabeth Peceril, 31, who was walking with her three children in the now-calm streets of Guadalajara on Wednesday. ”We were really scared.”
One fake post purported to show a commercial plane on fire at Guadalajara’s international airport. Messages spread that gunmen had seized the airport and tourists had been taken hostage.
