Does a screenshot show an authentic Instagram account belonging to Ryan Wesley Routh, the man accused of an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at Trump's golf course? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, told Lead Stories the account is fake. Any copycat accounts will be removed, the spokesperson said.
The screenshot of the account appeared in a Threads post (archived here) on September 15, 2024, the same day as the apparent assassination attempt. The account identified Routh as a Democrat and a member of the LBGTQ+ community. His purported profile read:
Proud dad. Proud LBGTQ+ member. Proud Dem. Don't follow if you're a maga! Anti-Nazi. Anti-Fascist. Anti-Racist.🇺🇦🇯🇴🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
This is what the post looked like on social media at the time of writing:
(Source: Threads screenshot taken on Thu Sep 19 17:06:25 2024 UTC)
Lead Stories contacted Meta to ask about the account. In an email, dated September 20, 2024, a spokesperson wrote:
I can confirm that no this is not an authentic account.
The spokesperson said Meta is cooperating with law enforcement and has designated the apparent assassination attempt under its Dangerous Organizations and Individuals Policy, which states:
In an effort to prevent and disrupt real-world harm, we do not allow organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence to have a presence on our platforms. We assess these entities based on their behavior both online and offline, most significantly, their ties to violence.
The spokesperson added:
[A]ny glorification or support of him [Routh] or this event (including copycat accounts) violates our policies and will be removed as we discover them.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about Ryan Routh can be found here. Other Lead Stories fact checks about the 2024 presidential election can be found here.
