No, Emma González did not rip up the U.S. Constitution
Emma González's arresting speech at the March for Our Lives is one we won't forget for years to come.
But, as González and millions of people marched to demand legislation to prevent gun violence, fake images of the activist ripping the U.S. Constitution were being circulated by self-professed NRA supporters.
The image was debunked by Don Moynihan—professor of government at University of Wisconsin—who tweeted the doctored image alongside the original image, which showed González tearing up a gun-range target. The original image is a screenshot of a video produced by Teen Vogue to accompany an op-ed penned by the 18-year-old, entitled "Why This Generation Needs Gun Control.
According to Moynihan, the doctored image was one of the first images to appear after searching for the #EmmaGonzalez hashtag on Twitter.
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The fake image was tweeted out by an account named "Linda NRA Supporter" and gained over 65K retweets. Moynihan wrote in a Twitter thread that the self-professed NRA supporter could well have been a "Russian troll seeking to sow division."
Moynihan later added that the eight digits in the account's Twitter handle suggested that "Linda NRA Supporter" was likely a bot. Twitter subsequently suspended the account.
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"Linda" wasn't the only account responsible for distributing the fake image of González.
According to The Washington Post, Gab—a "popular refuge for the alt-right"—also posted a GIF showing the activist ripping up the Constitution, gaining 1.5K retweets and nearly 3K likes. This GIF is still live on Twitter.
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Hours later, Gab posted a follow-up tweet to state that the GIF was "obviously a parody/satire."
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But, by the time Gab posted its second tweet informing its 100K followers that the GIF was a "comedic reflection of reality," scores of users had already taken the GIF at face value and believed it to be true.
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"Nothing says 'I am NOT a fascist' like tearing up the greatest symbol of freedom that the world has ever known," replied one Twitter user.
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
