Skip to main content
FALSE ALARM

Russian Media Promotes Pentagon Explosion Hoax, Causing Stock Market Dip

A photo of a black cloud billowing from the Pentagon was quickly exposed as a fake—but Kremlin-linked outlet RT shared it anyway.

The Pentagon

Reuters/Hyungwon Kang

By William Bredderman

A phony image of black smoke rising from the Pentagon went viral Monday morning, with help from Russian state-affiliated media—triggering a brief fall in U.S. stock markets. Local authorities acted fast to put out the social media fire, but not before markets fell more than a quarter of a percent, according to Business Insider. The image, which was apparently generated by artificial intelligence, got a boost from Kremlin-linked outlet RT in a since-deleted tweet, and spread across a host of accounts that promote Moscow-friendly messaging.

Read it at Insider

TRENDING NOW