Fake Video Could End Viral Justice

It used to be that cameras never lie. We tend to privilege visual content, trust what we see, and rely on police cams, mobile recording tools and similar devices to tell us about what is really happening on the streets, in local businesses, and more. Catherine Brooks (@catfbrooks) is an Associate Professor of Information at the University of Arizona, where she is the associate director of the School of Information and founding director of the Center for Digital Society and Data Studies. She is a Public Voices Fellow with the Op Ed Project. Take, for example, a viral video that shows a white woman calling the police as black men in Oakland attempt to barbecue. Millions are laughing, and the woman's image is being used as a meme across the Internet.