How do untruths about trials spread on platforms like Facebook?

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Untruths about trials spread on Facebook through viral sharing, platform tolerance of extremist and anti-fact content, and the way social feeds amplify attention around ongoing cases.

Untruths about trials can spread quickly online because social media users often treat commentary as a substitute for courtroom process, including pronouncing guilt or innocence while a trial is still ongoing. In that environment, hashtags and highly visible posts can drum up public anger, and the same attention dynamics can make it easier for fabricated claims to circulate before facts and evidence are presented in court. Facebook has also been used to spread lies about issues such as US elections and the Rohingya, and it has continued to allow itself to be used by groups and accounts associated with white supremacists and anti-vaxxers, which can further expand the reach of misinformation.
Ongoing trials are treated like verdicts in real time
When a trial is still ongoing, the public is still described as going online and already pronouncing guilt or innocence. The key problem is that opinionated statements can be shared as if they were findings, even though the article stresses that verdict and punishment are meant to be decided by the judge after facts and evidence are presented. This mismatch between ongoing court proceedings and instantaneous online judgement creates fertile ground for untruths to take hold.
Hashtags and viral attention amplify claims about abuse cases
The article points to the way hashtags were used to drum up public anger over an abuse case, describing the approach as crass and questioning whether everything must be viralised to be noticed. In practical terms, this kind of visibility-driven sharing can help untruths travel faster, because attention and outrage can attract more engagement than careful reading of what is actually before the court. Once a narrative is framed through viral posts, it becomes easier for false or incomplete claims to be repeated.
Facebook’s ecosystem has been linked to other high-profile misinformation
Facebook is singled out for having been used to spread lies about US elections and the Rohingya. It is also described as continuing to allow itself to be a platform for the likes of white supremacists and anti-vaxxers, which indicates that misinformation can persist within the same social media space. When these patterns exist around other topics, they can also carry over to how trial-related narratives are circulated.
Cross-platform momentum can reinforce false trial narratives
The article also notes that untruths are not limited to Facebook: fake videos with false narratives and made-up quotes have appeared on YouTube following the high-profile publicity around the Johnny Depp libel suit against Amber Heard. That example matters because it shows how widely publicised legal disputes can generate a broader wave of fabricated content. When misinformation appears across platforms, it can reinforce the same false framing about court matters.

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How do untruths about trials spread on platforms like Facebook?

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