These images were harder to avoid on the platform, according to some users, in part because they were shared from accounts that had paid to be verified – an option introduced under owner Elon Musk that can elevate the visibility of a user’s tweets. “Graphic material often found its way onto Twitter in the past but it was more likely to be downranked and hard to find,” Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, said in a tweet.
Eight people were killed and at least seven others wounded when a gunman opened fire at the outlet mall in Allen, Texas, according to local officials. In an interview with CNN affiliate KTVT on Sunday, Steven Spainhouer, an Army veteran and former police officer who helped administer first aid at the scene, described the horror he encountered. “The first girl I walked up to … I felt for a pulse, pulled her head to the side, and she had no face,” he said.