While the latest Parkland school massacre has sparked a nationwide debate and increased calls for tighter gun controls, some believe mass shootings are actually orchestrated by the government as an excuse to restrict the sale of firearms.
Many of the Parkland survivors have been vocal about gun control, leading to accusations they are not really students at all. Memes and videos on YouTube claim some of the students are "actors" working for anti-gun groups who travel around the country to the sites of mass shootings.
Earlier this week, a video alleging Parkland survivor David Hogg, 17, was a "crisis actor" who's been "coached" on anti-gun talking points, was one of the .
In response, Hogg thanked all the conspiracy theorists and detractors he believes have helped amplify his real message.
"These people that have been attacking me on social media, they've been great advertisers. Ever since they started attacking me, my Twitter followers are now a quarter of a million people. People have continued to cover us in the media. They've done a great job of that, and for that, I honestly thank them," .
Yet effort by social media companies to crack down on false stories claiming teenage survivors are actors hired to promote gun control "shines a light on a seemingly intractable problem of the modern conspiracy theory epidemic: that censoring the content can reinforce and enhance false beliefs and that there is no easy way to change the mind of a conspiracy theorist", says .
