This Wednesday, the White House tweeted out a video promoting a conspiracy theory that claims antifa and other leftist factions were leaving pallets of bricks and rocks at protest hot spots for rioters to use. According to one tweet, a portion of the video actually shows anti-ramming security barriers outside the Chabad Jewish community centre in Sherman Oaks, California -- not rocks being left on the sidewalk to be used as weapons, as the White House claimed.
"The White House is falsely claiming that the anti-ramming security barriers outside the Chabad Jewish community centre in Sherman Oaks are actually weapons placed by 'Antifa and professional anarchists,'" Arieh Kovler tweeted.
Minutes after Kovler's tweet was posted, the White House deleted the tweet.
As BuzzFeed news points out, there's little evidence to suggest that piles of rocks and bricks featured in various videos has to do with anything sinister.
"In several cases, bricks were placed long before protests began in the US, or they are clearly linked to ongoing construction," BuzzFeed reports. "As of now, there's no evidence to support claims of coordinated brick placements at protests. However, now that the claims have spread across social media — and been amplified by the White House — it’s possible that people could be inspired to start collecting and placing bricks."