In the wake of a May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two adults dead, social media posts went viral claiming the event was a "false flag."
A Facebook post shared May 26 shows an image of two women: one purportedly from Sandy Hook Elementary School and another from Robb Elementary School. The post claims the women are the same actor.
"False flags are too sloppy. Another staged hoax," reads the post. "Research crisis actors & the world is a stage."
Historically, a false flag operation is a "military action carried out with the intention of blaming an opponent for it," according to BBC News. But conspiracy theorists regularly misuse the term to falsely claim major news events were staged.
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The post generated over 500 interactions and 250 shares in less than a week. Similar posts spinning different narratives on how the shooting was a false flag amassed hundreds more interactions on Facebook and Twitter.
But the claim is nonsense.
The two images in the post show different women. And statements from Texas officials and eyewitness and media accounts show the attack was all too real. Texas authorities identified the shooting suspect as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who was shot by Border Patrol agents.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the claim for...
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