No one would ever say that X (formerly Twitter) used to be a bastion of integrity and truth. But the ways the social media platform has devolved into a Wild West free-for-all since Elon Musk took over can be summed up perfectly by a made-up report about Shedeur Sanders and the way so many notable people responded.
We begin with the X account NFL Rookie Watch (handle @NFLRookieWatxh). While it has a blue checkmark, which no longer has any value or means anything, that still appears to the untrained eye to infer notability to the account.
The account, which has just shy of 160,000 followers, posted Saturday morning about Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders, sharing a series of quotes from reports that claim he is “prepared” to be selected by the Las Vegas Raiders or Dallas Cowboys in the 2025 NFL Draft and that there is a “high likelihood” he would refuse to play for the Cleveland Browns.
Shedeur Sanders is reportedly “prepared” to be drafted by the Las Vegas Raiders or the Dallas Cowboys in the upcoming NFL Draft.
There is reportedly a “high likelihood” Sanders would refuse to play if he was drafted by either the Giants or Browns.
Similar to how Eli Manning… pic.twitter.com/DHhHNYKdpr
— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) December 14, 2024
The account does not cite any sources for the quoted reports and there does not appear to be any notable reports these quotes could have been pulled from. By all accounts, anyone who has spent a modicum of time on social media should be able to suss out that these quotes are erroneous and the account has a pattern of making up quotes without attribution to create viral posts.
However, between the lack of checks and balances and our inability to take a step back and think critically for a moment, this kind of post is catnip just waiting for someone with a large following to pounce, react, and draw further attention to it.
That’s exactly what happened as Deion Sanders, Jr., Shedeur’s brother, quoted the post, saying “Bro is completely lying about everything he just tweeted.”
Bro is completely lying about everything he just tweeted https://t.co/ttnFAssotL
— Deion Sanders Jr (@DeionSandersJr) December 14, 2024
That led to the addition of a community note on the initial post that read “This is a complete lie.”
Then, NFL insiders and reporters like Benjamin Allbright and Josh Pate reacted, either demanding to see the reports the post is sourcing or outright saying the information is false.
And then Colorado coach and Shedeur’s dad Deion Sanders chimed in, refuting the post as a “lie” and asking the account to “Please stop trying to become relevant by misrepresenting my son.”
A Lie don’t care who tells it.
Please stop trying to become relevant by misrepresenting my son. God bless you. 🙏🏾 https://t.co/lvLpYD4HTh— COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) December 14, 2024
Sanders’ quote-post was then re-shared and quoted as well, rebooting the cycle once more and bringing the initial post with it.
While everyone probably assumes they did the right thing here, all of the responses and reactions merely attracted more attention to the initial post. The truth is that this kind of interaction loop is exactly what Musk and X want. They’re more than happy to sacrifice accountability and moderation for virality. The rules on X are now set up to favor an account like NFL Rookie Watch. Whatever engagement is given to them is positive, even if its intention is negative. They have all the incentive in the world to keep making up fake reports that you will react to and share.
Misinformation and bad aggregation have caused quite a few headaches for those in the sports media world in recent years. And the simple truth is that places like X aren’t getting better, they’re getting worse. The best defense might just be to leave the platform altogether, as some in the sports media world have already started doing.
At the very least, do yourself a favor and block NFL Rookie Watch. Then, go touch grass for a bit.
