US President Donald Trump calls the protests ongoing in the country "domestic terror" and has called in, among other things, military police for an offensive against a peaceful demonstration outside the White House. Around the country, videos and pictures of clashes between protesters and police are now being circulated in social media
- Last Friday, there was an investigation that showed that there were 8.8 million publications on social media about the events in the US, says Thomas Mattsson.
- It is much more than the protests in Hong Kong a few years ago or the Yellow West protests in Paris.
"Important for documenting violence"Thomas Mattsson believes that the material is important in order to be able to document the violence that occurs during the protests.
- At the same time, it is possible to discuss whether it is reasonable for private individuals to film when police and fire departments intervene. There may be people who think it is an invasion of privacy, but at the same time, these are images that depict a reality we are not used to seeing, he says.
As a publicist, it is important to evaluate news and source material, says Thomas Mattsson, but also says that private individuals should be source-critical to the material disseminated in social media.
- It is probably wise to have a little media critical perspective with them. But in the main it is good that we can share these pictures. They also facilitate the prosecution of any abuse afterwards, he says.