Why do people easily believe proclaimed identities of random social media accounts?
Why are people skeptical of Amazon reviews or dating profiles, but blindly trust claimed identities on Twitter/X?
I constantly see inflammatory accounts pretending to be from my country to incite hate and division, and people just believe them. They swallow the bait exactly as intended, escalating the situation into cyber wars. In an era of AI translation and VPNs, disguising who you are is easy.
Why do they drop their guard so easily? Is there a psychological reason?
Posted Aug 14, 2026, 5:47 AM UTC
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