Embedded Files
February 2020
February 2020
The story I first came across was an article my mother shared on Facebook discussing a Facebook Live video that had already received more than 100 million views. This video was from the mother of a young Australian boy with dwarfism who claimed to be bullied at school. The video shows the 9-year-old, Quaden Bayles, crying while his mother pleads with parents and ‘highlights the effects’ that stem from bullying as he looks at the camera and expresses suicidal remarks. Since posting the video has been taken down from the original account but the full article I shared is available here.
As this boy is an indigenous person to Australia, I shared this to Twitter tagging two Australian actors who have major roles playing superheroes: Hugh Jackman (Wolverine, X-Men series) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Marvel Cinematic Universe).
The original tweet can be found here. This tweet has currently amassed: 644,286 impressions; 196,644 engagements; 600 replies; over 1,200 retweets; and over 5,400 likes.
Hugh Jackman then responded with a personalized video directed at Quaden, which he posted to his Twitter account. In his reply he included my handle in the body of his new tweet, which displays differently than when you simply reply to someone’s tweet. This example of hierarchy is shown in the screenshot here as he both tagged me in the copy while replying to my tweet.
The original tweet from Hugh Jackman’s account can be found here. Since posting, the video has amassed: over 1.7M views; over 15,800 retweets; and over 86,200 likes.
From this, there was a digital outpouring of support for Quaden from other celebrities including, but not limited to, Rick Astley, Mark Hamill, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Brad Williams, a comedian with dwarfism, started a GoFundMe campaign to bring Quaden and his family to Disneyland that, since starting, has raised nearly $500,000. As more celebrities got involved, this story picked up traction with media outlets including, but not limited to, BBC, CNN, Yahoo News, People, E! News, The Independent, and Just Jared.
However, the internet is not always a forgiving environment and in less than 24-hours the social media viral cycle began to turn negative. The most notable example is a screenshot from a now deleted Facebook account under the name Jasmein Dowe. (For clarification, the actual post itself was not being shared on social media but rather the below screenshot of the original post)
This one unsubstantiated claim sparked a social media and internet firestorm with opinions and claims being flung on both sides. From there, ‘trolls’ began to come out in response to further stoke the flames. ‘Internet troll’ or ‘troll’ is internet slang for a person who starts quarrels or upsets people on the internet to distract and sow discord by posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community.
Once suspicion for the argument was made every inch of Quaden and his mother’s digital, public footprint was being scrutinized for legitimacy or inaccuracy. Additionally, manipulated photos and videos highlighting alleged proof to the claim that the initial video and story were ‘fake’ began to pop up, many even coming as replies on Twitter to both myself and Hugh Jackman.
The most popular theories/conspiracies were:
- He is actually an adult posing as a child (debunked)
- He is an actor (profile on IMDb – this lists his only acting credit for a documentary series that covered his rare form of dwarfism)
- He/his mother already has/have money and is doing this for more money or notoriety as s/he is an activist for fair treatment of both dwarves and indigenous Australians rights
- He is actually the bully
This lead to even media outlets to get into the conversation on the topic of the misinformation like the New York Post, using titles like ‘Quaden Bayles: Internet debates whether bullied Australian boy is really 9 years old’ that only further spread false facts and scrutiny. All of the above prompted me to share my thoughts on my personal Facebook page—as I had already shared the initial story and Hugh Jackman’s response there.
An interesting note is that it appears misinformation spreads at a higher and faster rate than accurate information and even corrections to misinformation. A friend from Facebook posted an article from Daily Mail, calling into question Quaden’s financial standings and his listing as an actor as reason the initial video was fake. This post received 20 likes, 75 comments and 9 shares. After a conversation was started in the comment section and facts were presented stating the opposite with sources—the post was removed with an apology posted later. The apology post only has 19 likes, 2 comments and no shares.
Although most of the initial noise has dissipated, likes, replies and follows are still trickling in. A YouTube channel that I watch daily, covering a wide range of topics, even covered the entire conspiracy controversy. Since the story went viral, all of the public social media profiles for both Quaden (operated by his mother) and his mother have been either placed on private or removed entirely.
As of Feb. 28, it has been announced that Quaden’s family refused the money raised via the GoFundMe campaign to visit Disneyland and instead would prefer it to go to charities that combat bullying and provide support/awareness for those dealing with dwarfism.
Conclusion
At the start of this I had a little over 350 followers on Twitter and currently I’m sitting just under 1,000 as the number fluctuates day to day. While I found this an extremely interesting situation to be a part of I learned, on a much more personal level, a few things about the realm I work in every day.
The internet, while creating an amazing community for connection and inclusion can also be a breeding ground for dissent, the spread of misinformation and bullying. What I found most ironic was that Quaden rose to notoriety for being bullied only to end up being bullied by the internet. Additionally, it’s clear that sensationalism is what spreads the fastest on the internet and once out there it is extremely difficult—if not impossible—to reverse the negative impact.
There’s a saying that helped me keep my sanity throughout this entire process, which was: When on the internet, don’t feed the trolls.
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