“Texas snow that doesn’t melt, it’s fake” … the truth of conspiracy theories over US social media [영상]

An unusual’conspiracy theory’ is spreading online in the state of Texas in the United States, where 4 million households are groaning with power outages and dozens of deaths due to an unusual cold wave. Heavy snow over Texas is an absurd claim that the government made fakes.

On the 22nd (local time), local media such as US Business Insider highlighted the conspiracy theory spread by some residents of Texas and pointed out that “after a storm hit Texas, misinformation is prevalent.”

Here is the content of the conspiracy theory video that some residents are spreading. It is argued that the snow in Texas is fake, and it was made by the government. These unfounded and compelling claims are spreading through’TikTok’, a short video sharing social media for smartphones that is causing a sensation around the world in recent years.

There are many ways to claim that the contents of the conspiracy theory videos do not dissolve with water even if they pick up snow and bring firearms such as lighters. A female TikTok user said, “Someone told me to blow the dryer,” and “(snow) doesn’t melt,” while blowing hot air from a hair dryer in the snow.

He is participating in the spread of conspiracy theories by posting’#Snow does not melt’,’#What is happening’,’#Texas heavy snow’,’#Conspiracy theory’, and’#Convince me’ as the hashtag on the video. . The hair dryer experiment video uploaded by this woman was shared 2330 times, and about 5600 people clicked’heart’ (Like). The number of views alone exceeds 285,000.

The hashtag most commonly used in this conspiracy theory is’#government snow’. It means that it is a fake eye made by the government. Videos claiming that it does not dissolve with water by turning on a light with a lighter and touching it directly are spreading at a rapid rate.

Another user puts a lighter fire directly into his eye and says, “Thank you, Bill Gates for trying to cheat.” “The damn snow doesn’t melt. There’s no water, nothing changes.” It is argued that Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who insists on responding to climate change, is behind the fake snow.

However, it is scientifically very natural that the snow does not turn into water near a hot air or fire. It is a’sublimation’ phenomenon in which water in a solid state that has been heated turns into a gas without passing through a liquid state. In addition, some water droplets that have changed from solid to liquid are absorbed into the eye. It is for this reason that even if a snowball is burned with a lighter fire, the snowball quickly turns into water and does not drip.

USA Today also pointed out that “the images are based on unproven conspiracy theories, and snowballs change from solid to gas with a phenomenon called sublimation.”

Reporter Oh Won-seok [email protected]