CNN‘s Brian Stelter said videos of the Los Angeles riots could give viewers a “false impression” of what is happening in the city, as the social media content could be “hours old.”
Multiple video clips and photos of the riots have been shared on X and other social media platforms as the Trump administration deployed the National Guard over the weekend to help quell the violence in the city. Stelter, who said people “live on our phones these days,” encouraged people to “be careful” when looking at videos of the riots, specifically warning people to be mindful of the “dates” attached to the content.
“A lot of these algorithms are circulating hours-old or even days-old content, so you might be looking at a video of something, wondering what’s happening in LA, it’s actually from two days ago!” Stelter said Tuesday. “And it only matters because it can give people a false impression of what’s actually happening at a moment of unrest.”
Stelter also shared his comment on X, saying the footage is “contributing to a sense of nonstop crisis.”
The White House’s X account shared a video of multiple Democratic lawmakers insisting that “peaceful protests” are taking place in Los Angeles. The video’s caption accused the lawmakers of siding “with mobs.”
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On Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and California Attorney General Rob Bonta asked a federal court to temporarily block Trump from using the National Guard as law enforcement. Newsom has accused Trump of “behaving like a tyrant” by deploying the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Trump has not ruled out using the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows the president to send military forces to suppress insurrections or civil disorder in states. He has also maintained that the deployment of the National Guard and Marines was appropriate.