Twitter isn’t a great site for intelligent conversation, nuance, or even fact-finding. Case in point, a lot of people thought they had the identity of one of the Capitol Hill rioters…only they didn’t. They really didn’t.
Likely you’ve seen a picture floating around the internet of a ginger-haired man smiling very big as he carried out one of the podiums from within the Capitol building.
— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) January 6, 2021
That image, in particular, was released by Getty Images. When a news site posts the image themselves they make sure to attribute it to Getty by making the descriptive text read “via Getty” somewhere in it.
Only, Twitter users didn’t think it was attribution, they thought it was the dude’s actual name.
Thus, a slew of Twitter super sleuths thought they had the guy ID’d as “Via Getty” and called for he and his weird name to be canceled.
Via Getty, one the rioters steals a podium from the Capitol pic.twitter.com/V4spojl40q
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) January 6, 2021
A little bit of humour…
Some people on Twitter think “Via Getty” is the name of a protester as opposed to an acknowledgment that Getty Images own the photos showing the protests… 🙈 pic.twitter.com/s8skXbV95n
— Thomas Mairs (@TomMairs) January 6, 2021
— Thomas Mairs (@TomMairs) January 6, 2021
The man’s actual identity is still unconfirmed but he’s believed to be from Manatee County, Florida. According to WTSP-TV in Tampa Bay, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said the photo has been forwarded to the proper authorities and deputies will be on the lookout for him.
Regardless, Twitter isn’t the best place to get information about the man. It has a bad habit of identifying the wrong person for things at the end of every major news event.
Once again, Twitter has proven that it’s best to wait till all the facts come out before you jump into believing anything that’s tweeted there, or you might end up believing a guy named “Reuters” was also rioting in the Capitol building.
Let’s hope Via Getty is found soon and that podium recovered and returned to its rightful place.
Then let’s collectively delete Twitter and pretend it never happened.
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