"That's the moment when I realized this is going to be extremely complicated for us to make sense of," Jan-Albert Hootsen, the Mexican representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said. The complication: People were running and seemed panicked in the airport of Mexico's second-largest city, but there was no gunfire or siege, the airport's official account tweeted."
"According to a preliminary analysis from the Technological Institute of Monterrey, somewhere between 200 and 500 posts containing false or unverified claims circulated on social media in the 48 hours following Oseguera's death. The engagement on those posts generated "three to five million potential exposures to false or unverified content," per El País."
"Open-source intelligence (OSINT) - the use of publicly available information, from social media to satellite imagery, to verify or document events - can be a powerful tool that helps journalists uncover new information or debunk false claims. But it can also be misused. In 2024, Cardiff University researchers pointed out that disinformation agents create content that looks like OSINT but is meant to confuse or mislead."
Following the death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, Mexico's most wanted drug lord, on February 22, misinformation spread rapidly across social media platforms. An OSINT account with 1.8 million followers posted a video claiming CJNG cartel members were storming Guadalajara International Airport, which generated over 915,000 views. However, airport officials confirmed no gunfire or siege occurred. Within 48 hours, between 200 and 500 posts containing false or unverified claims circulated, generating three to five million potential exposures to misinformation. While OSINT serves as a valuable tool for journalists to verify events and debunk false claims, it can be weaponized by disinformation agents to create misleading content that appears credible.
Read at Nieman Lab
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