Transnational disinformation on the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting

Due to the significant event that happened in Tumbler Ridge on February 10, 2026, disinformation about the mass shooting spread rapidly on different sites, revolving around a few tropes including anti-transgender narrative. A major false narrative focuses on the liberal governments that allegedly encouraged or allowed such a violent event to occur due to adopting so-called “woke” policies. For example, the Alex jones Show channels on Rumble showed an individual in a state of mental panic, falsely stating that it belongs to the mass shooter (Figure 1). 

The video uses Biblical references claiming that the mass shooter was possessed by demons, and other alternative social media sites like BitChute featured the same false video.6 This video and other types of content are closely aligned with MAGA narratives on how the “woke” agenda and liberal policies led to the mass shooter’s incident in Tumbler Ridge. This narrative is also echoed by the far-right leader in the UK, Tommy Robinson, who shared a similar message on Gettr (Figure 2).7 The same videos are shared online on TikTok and Instagram, falsely accusing transgender people of being more violent than average.

Another false narrative revolves around the real identity of the shooter. For instance, several South East Asian news outlets used the false image of the mass shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, such as Indian Today, Times of India, The Indian Express, English Bombay, The Daily Jagran, Khamer Times….etc (Figure 3). 8 In addition, the Arabic version of the official Russian government’s channel, Russia Today, used a similar false image of the mass shooter.9 Other Indian news media channels on YouTube featured the same false image and video as discussed above such as Midday India and CNN-News18.

Some websites even started advertising for t-shirts with the false image of the mass shooter (see Figure 4). Most of these outlets focused on the issue of the shooter’s gender identity especially for being transgender far more than other aspects like their mental health. Despite that AFP Fact Check has already highlighted that the false image belongs to another individual who lives in Ontario, Canada, it did not seem to prevent other channels from sharing false information.