The Bubba Wallace noose-that-wasn't story is not the story of a "hoax." Bubba himself didn't report it. Everyone involved tried to do the right thing. It's a story of how stories go viral in the social media age before anyone has time to check them, and how that doesn't help us.

Before social media and its incentives for instant virality, a suspected hate crime like this would be quickly investigated by stakeholders and reporters, and only then would the findings be disclosed to the public. Today, the incident hits Twitter *before* any investigation. https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1275597561139802113

In fact, news outlets often cover stories now before they have time to fully vet them because they worry that they'll otherwise be perceived as ignoring them (see: Tara Reade) or that the story will be monopolized by misinformed actors online if the outlets don't jump in first. https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/1275598946761674752