If It's on the Internet… Blame the Service Provider

There’s a jokey saying that people like to spout when they hear stories of people believing the most ridiculous things found on the Internet: “If it’s on the Internet, it must be true.” That saying certainly showed up in the story earlier this week about people ransacking and looting a house in Oregon after someone put up a post on Craigslist saying that the house had been abandoned and everything was free for the taking. When the owner came back to the house telling people to stop, they pointed to the Craigslist ad as “proof” that they could continue their looting. Hence, “if it’s on the Internet, it must be true.” However, in the aftermath of this event (which is actually a copycat from a similar event nearly a year ago), we’re seeing a different, but perhaps equally as common, fallacy come out: If it’s on the Internet, blame the service provider, rather than those actually responsible.

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