SCOTUSblog by Jon Levitan and Andrew Hamm 3/15/2019
#WheresRuth. Even as the answer – working from home while recovering from cancer surgery – was covered by journalists and confirmed by the Supreme Court itself, this hashtag and similar ones populated Twitter in January and February. False allegations about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s status ranged from standard political rumors (e.g., that she planned to announce her retirement soon) to massive conspiracy theories (e.g., that she was in a medically induced coma or that her death was being hidden from the American people). Presumed “updates†from conspiracy theorists as well as mishaps from media organizations — at one point, Fox News erroneously aired, for barely two seconds, an image of Ginsburg with the dates “1933-2019†under her name — fueled the theories.
Journalists looked into the conspiracy theories in depth as they were developing, especially after a February 4 appearance by Ginsburg at a concert in Washington — in which she was personally seen by multiple reporters of the Supreme Court press corps — was rejected by some as “fake news,†supposedly due to a lack of pictures. After the event one Washington Post reporter, Robert Barnes, “experienced something he says was a first in his career: a storm of commentators, many anonymous, swarming his social media accounts and email inbox to tell him that something he saw with his own eyes and reported in The Post did not actually happen.â€
At SCOTUSblog, we organized a small experiment intended to produce an illustration of how proponents of conspiracy theories respond to evidence disproving their ideas. We were curious to see how different individuals on Twitter who had participated in spreading misinformation about Ginsburg responded when asked directly to correct themselves and inform their followers of the truth. We expected to meet some resistance (and we did), but we saw it as a valuable opportunity to demonstrate the process in action. Our data are limited and we don’t profess statistical significance; what follows is more of a case study.
Procedure
Through January and February, we tracked 82 Twitter accounts with over 10,000 followers that tweeted claims or insinuations (including questions) about Ginsburg’s death or incapacity. The account with the most followers was that of actor James Woods (@RealJamesWoods), who at the time had 1.95 million followers and who tweeted on January 29, among other similar messages: “As citizens we have a right to a fully seated United States Supreme Court. The fact that #RuthBaderGinsberg [sic] is literally missing in action is troubling. Considerations of her personal well-being aside (we wish her good health), Americans need to be apprised of her viability.†This may seem like a simple inquiry, but it ignores the Supreme Court’s direct statements. An example of a more nefarious tweet comes from one user with 250,000 followers, who on February 8 tweeted a link to a YouTube video and the message: “WHISTLEBLOWER REVEALS TRUTH ABOUT RUTH BADER GINSBURG HEALTH according to unconfirmed sources Ruth Bader Ginsburg is in a medically induced coma. They’ll keep her alive until the 2020 election if necessary.â€
Ginsburg returned to work on February 15 for conference with her fellow justices. Over the two-week February sitting, Ginsburg heard all six of the Supreme Court’s oral arguments. She also released three opinions, including in one case, Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, that had been argued during her absence in January – indeed, the court had indicated in January that she would be participating in these cases based on the transcripts and briefs. News coverage of Ginsburg’s apparent productivity during her absence was met with some skepticism on Twitter. For example, on March 5, the ABA Journal tweeted a link to an article and the news that “U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has written four majority opinions this term, outpacing all the other justices. Three of those opinions were issued after Ginsburg returned to the bench following Dec. 21 surgery for lung cancer.†Some of the replies to this tweet include, “Obviously her clerks are very industrious,†“Does she bring her opinions in person? #WheresRuth,†and “Did you witness her writing these opinions?â€
Following the February sitting, we went through our list of users to track which, if any, had acknowledged Ginsburg’s return to the bench. We found 10 of the 82 (12 percent) did so in some way. Woods tweeted on February 20, “Always happy to see a victory over cancer. It is a dreadful disease and every survivor is a gift to us.†Another example is television host John Cardillo (@johncardillo), with over 115,000 followers, who tweeted on February 19, as a reply to an earlier tweet, “Ginsburg is back on the Court. She heard arguments today.â€
More:
https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/03/case-study-on-the-ginsburg-conspiracy-theories-in-action/#more-283803
