Matthew Perry Deserved Better Than #DiedSuddenly

Despite skimming hundreds of story headlines every week and actually reading dozens of articles, I rarely turn to Twitter/X as a source for stories. It has always offered an ocean of misinformation, and the problem has gotten quantifiably worse since Musk took over.

Unfortunately, not everyone treats content on X with the same skepticism, which is why hours after the news broke that actor Matthew Perry had passed away, conspiracy theorists online immediately began circulating stories with the hashtag #DiedSuddenly, which is code for the unfounded theory that a death was caused by an adverse reaction to taking the Covid vaccine.

It is doubly sad in this case, as Perry had been vocal about his mental health struggles and seemed to be trying to turn things around for himself. This is what peddlers of misinformation do online, particularly around death. They try to hijack a legacy and cause more pain for those who knew the deceased.

The solution to this plague is to avoid the place where they seem to live. In other words, treat any information you see on Twitter/X as probably false and not credible.