Dangerously viral: How Trump, supporters spread false claims

A Joe Biden supporter holding a sign outside the central counting board where ballots in the general election are counted in the city at the TCF Center in Detroit. Trump and his allies have fomented the idea of a 'rigged election' for months, promoting falsehoods through various media and even lawsuits about fraudulent votes and dead voters casting ballots. While the details of these spurious allegations may fade over time, the scar it leaves on American democracy could take years to heal. — AP

The cellphone video shot in the dark by a woman in a parked car appeared to show something ominous: a man closing the doors of a white van and then rolling a wagon with a large box into a Detroit election center.

Within hours, the 90-second clip was being shared on news sites and conservative YouTube accounts, offered as apparent proof that illegal votes were being smuggled in after polls closed. Prominent Republicans, including Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, amplified the falsehoods on social media. Within a day, views of the video shot up past a million.