Capel St stabbing: How misinformation spread across social media 

Gardaí attend the scene of a knife attack on Capel St, Dublin, on Tuesday evening. Picture: Leah Farrell/ © RollingNews.ie.

At about 6.30pm on Tuesday evening, a probationary garda on a high-visibility patrol on Capel St, Dublin, was attacked without provocation by a knife-wielding assailant. 

Within minutes, misinformation regarding the attacker, who is an Irish citizen, had begun to spread on various social media platforms — a recurring trend in recent times in the fallout from such incidents, with false narratives emerging before facts can be definitively established by official outlets.