Rumors go viral about aerial objects shot down in U.S.: AP

NEW YORK, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The downing of four aerial devices by U.S. warplanes has touched off rampant misinformation about the objects, their origin and their purpose, reported The Associated Press (AP) on Tuesday.

"There will be an investigation and we will learn more, but until then this story has created a playground for people interested in speculating or stirring the pot for their own reasons," the report quoted Jim Ludes, a former national defense analyst who is now a scholar, as saying.

Many U.S. social media sites have lit up with theories that President Joe Biden had deployed the aerial devices as a way to distract Americans from other, more pressing issues, including immigration, inflation, the war in Ukraine and Republican investigations into Hunter Biden, the president's son, the report noted.

While the concentration of claims was highest on fringe sites popular with far-right Americans, rumors and conspiracy theories popped up on bigger platforms like Twitter and Facebook, too, it said, adding that one of the most popular theories suggested the White House and Pentagon are using the airborne devices to divert attention from a chemical spill earlier this month in Ohio.