Following the tragic Waukesha parade incident in which a red SUV drove through a Christmas parade on Sunday, killing several people and injuring more, people quickly flocked online to find out more information.

As is customary when a tragedy happens, information channels were awash with images, videos and people pretending to have first-hand accounts, some of which pointed to Sam Hyde being the culprit.

there's actually video proof that sam hyde did wakeusha that the media doesn't want you to know about

lucky for you, your boy contra's got the hook up pic.twitter.com/Pttohezf9l

— Contra (@imgrimevil) November 23, 2021

A picture of the driver pic.twitter.com/yisMaH0n0f

— Hanamaru Kunikida (@HanamaruKunik18) November 22, 2021

We're on the edge of 2022 and there are still actual human beings falling for the Sam Hyde being the killer meme.

— Henry Ford (@AuthorHenryFord) November 22, 2021

Sam Hyde has become the Journalism Litmus Test. If you see an outlet reporting that the culprit was Sam Hyde, you know that they just took a rumor and ran with it, instead of actually investigate into the story.

— Woods Walker (@AbunaiWoods) November 22, 2021

While some people were able to pick up on it being fake, there were plenty who fell for the bait of Hyde being the supposed perpetrator. The most notable ones to fall for it were independent journalist Ralph Morris, who had an entire YouTube video up showing Sam Hyde for about 30 minutes before realizing the error and correcting it, and the Italian news media outlet Il Primato Nazionale, who reported it on national television.

Journalism at its finest: our most watched news program fell for the Sam Hyde meme. pic.twitter.com/VkozNksv8e

— Emilio Orsi (@ewilio) November 23, 2021

ITALIAN NEWS MEDIA IS SHOWING A PICTURE OF SAM HYDE AND SAYING HE’S THE WISCONSIN CHRISTMAS PARADE ATTACKERhttps://t.co/y8gHl57NGk

— ☦︎ Turkey Ferguson ☦︎ (@1stAmongSchizos) November 22, 2021

How embarrassing. 150,000 people watched this video on YouTube and many are convinced Sam Hyde ran over all those people in Wisconsin. Well, they don’t know who he is. They just think it’s a white guy and now think the police are trying to frame a black guy. 🤦‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/0f0jhvzaiR

— ⓘ Odin (@OdinAwakens) November 23, 2021

#Waukesha #FakeNews

Please, report any person that tweets with the following so called "Red" car.

Reverse google search brings up picture 2, which is Sam Hyde and picture is months old

-BB pic.twitter.com/nbaV4Auk3R

— GlobalNews.Watch (@GlobalnewsW) November 22, 2021

Unlike previous times in recent history, this instance seemed to be more effective, and even destructive, as it lead people to believe that a white supremacist-style coverup was in-play because they believed that Hyde was the real driver … while a different person was later arrested. Because of this, backlash and calls for Twitter to stop letting people use Sam Hyde as a meme have begun to grow in number.

pic.twitter.com/YJZ4mKI0ZL

— I,Hypocrite (@lporiginalg) November 22, 2021

Hey TwitterSupport</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Twitter?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">twitter,

Any account that mentions Sam Hyde in any form after a tragedy should be permanently banned from twitter.

Such tweets are clearly indication that the account is run by a sociopath. https://t.co/1jcGU8E93f

— HG Tomato 🍅 Wash Your Hands (@HGTomato) November 22, 2021

One time, just one time it’s actually going to be Sam Hyde who did it pic.twitter.com/T2erTUP8WL

— Jay (@PrimateAcolyte) November 22, 2021

Internet trolls are spreading disinformation about the #Waukesha driver with a photoshopped image of Sam Hyde, who's often misreported as the perpetrator of mass killings, in a red car. The long-running hoax resurfaces after tragedies. pic.twitter.com/A2DalHuxzT

— Mia Cathell (@MiaCathell) November 22, 2021