Misinformation about the Baltimore Bridge collapse is already being spread on social media

Misinformation about the Baltimore Key Bridge collapse is already starting to spread on social media.

On Tuesday (26 March) at around 1:30 am local time, a large portion of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, falling into the Patapsco River below.

It occurred after a cargo ship crashed into a support pillar structure, causing the 1.6-mile-long bridge to give way. The Singapore-flagged ship was bound for Sri Lanka when the vessel hit the pillar. All of those onboard are said to be accounted for and uninjured.

The incident has been described by law enforcement as a “mass casualty event” and emergency services remain on the scene to conduct a major search and rescue operation to locate those who fell into the water.

Multiple vehicles and several construction workers were thought to be on the bridge at the time of its collapse.

Footage of the shocking incident has circulated online, with some opportunists using the event to spread misinformation about what happened.

One video shared online claimed to show an “explosion” before the bridge collapsed. However, it was quickly pointed out that the footage was actually from Ukraine, showing an attack that occurred on the Kerch Strait bridge in Crimea in October 2022.

“This is a video of an attack on the Kerch Strait bridge in Crimea, not the Francis Scott Key bridge,” someone explained in the comments.

Another said: “Man it’s crazy how incentivized misinformation is on here now since Elon took over. Immediately running to post footage from another incident just to get engagement for a $20 payout.”

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