03/27/2020
Happy Friday! We hope everyone is being extra safe during this time, and wanted to share a quick advisory: As is always the case on social media, certain folks are taking the opportunity to boost their engagement and edgerank by spreading fear and misinformation, and one of the most recent iterations of this is the use of "carousel" link posts containing viral videos.
In the case of this screenshot, a video of people looting a supermarket was used to (successfully) generate lots of shares and engagement, although the video contains no reference information, e.g. date, location, etc. The true purpose of this post, and many others like it, is to promote the link attached to the "Watch more" button, which you can see when hovering over the button.
To casual Facebook users, the post appears to be a video relevant to the current crisis, and they might casually share it in the belief that they are helping to inform their Facebook friends, all the while unwittingly spreading misinformation solely to promote the link behind the carousel post.
If you see a post like this, we advise not to click, and certainly not to share, as the internet and social media are already inundated with misinformation, and just like the Coronavirus, we are all doing our part to stop the spread.
Thanks for your attention and wishing everyone a healthy and restful weekend!
