SOCIAL
The ship sank. Or did it? Titanic misinformation swirls

Misinformation about the Titanic have continued to swirl more than 111 years after it went down in the North Atlantic Ocean – Copyright Atlantic Productions/AFP HO
Anuj CHOPRA
The Titanic inspired a tear-jerking blockbuster and expeditions to its watery gravesite — including a fatal one this week — but viral TikTok videos peddle a stunning conspiracy theory: the ship never sank.
More than a century after it went down in the North Atlantic Ocean, wild myths and urban legends about the luxury liner have continued to swirl, including that it was doomed by the curse of a mummified Egyptian priestess.
Even more striking are a wave of TikTok videos asserting that the Titanic did not sink at all. Many of them have racked up millions of views — never mind that the claim fails to hold water.
“The Titanic never truly went under,” said a video by a TikTok user called “The Deep Dive,” which garnered more than four million views.
“Everyone is familiar with the tale of the unstoppable ship that perished after colliding with an iceberg, but perhaps that isn’t the case.”
The video opens with a dramatic portrait of the Titanic, its stern crashing against stormy waves, as an imperious male voice goes on to claim that it was swapped with its sister ship –- the Olympic.
He alluded to an oft-repeated conspiracy theory that the company that built the Titanic purposely sank the Olympic, another one of its ships, as part of an elaborate insurance fraud.
A similar TikTok video claiming “the Titanic never sank” garnered 11 million views. The video was removed earlier this year in what appeared to be a rare intervention after it was widely reported by the US media.
– Historical falsehoods –
TikTok’s algorithm and engagement-based recommendation system, which creates personal feeds for users based on their preferences, makes it a powerful platform to propagate conspiracy theories, experts say.
“This makes it easier for this type of content to spread,” Megan Brown, a senior research scientist at New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics, told AFP.
“The other factor that makes it easier for historical conspiracy theories to spread over other types of conspiracy theories or misinformation is that it’s typically not moderated content.”
While the platform says it removes posts that cross its threshold of “significant harm” –- such as violence or harassment –- other seemingly benign content laced with falsehoods remains untouched.
That approach, researchers say, underscores a key dilemma facing social media platforms: How to tackle an explosion of misinformation without giving users the impression that they are restricting free speech?
That gap in policy has given rise to a breed of users who flourish on the back of disproven conspiracy theories that generate strong engagement, such as the Earth is flat and the 1969 Moon landing was a hoax.
– ‘Sad part’ –
That also includes TikTok’s Titanic influencers — focused on the vessel that sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage from England to New York after hitting an iceberg.
The proliferation of Titanic conspiracy theories on the popular platform may appear benign compared to other falsehoods that result in real-world harm, but historians say it remains vital to debunk them.
They worry conspiracy theories will affect how a generation of young people –- who often rely on platforms such as TikTok as a primary source of information — learn about the tragedy.
“The sad part is that many of the people following this sort of thing are teenagers,” said Charles A. Haas, founder of the Titanic International Society, which is dedicated to research about the ill-fated ship.
“They are woefully unwilling to do digging,” Haas told the New York Times.
TikTok influencers and celebrities are increasingly taking over from journalists as the main source of news for young people, according to a report published this month by the Britain-based Reuters Institute.
The report found that 55 percent of TikTok and Snapchat users and 52 percent of Instagram users get their news from “personalities” — compared to 33-42 percent who get it from mainstream media and journalists on those platforms.
That was reflected in how millions of young users turned to TikTok this week for updates on the five people aboard a tourist submersible that vanished in the North Atlantic Ocean on their way to visit Titanic’s seabed wreckage, on a $250,000 ticket.
All five died after the craft suffered what the US Coast Guard said was a “catastrophic implosion” in the ocean depths.
“What if this all is a cover up?” asked a young TikTok user, referring to wall-to-wall news coverage about the submersible.
“Is there something behind the scenes that we’re not seeing?” he added, peddling another unfounded conspiracy in a video that racked up over 4.2 million views.
SOCIAL
Snap On How It Empowered Women’s With AR Storytellling

Snapchat has won the AR/VR category at The Drum Awards for Creativity. Here is the award-winning case study.
In France, like many western countries, public space lacks monuments honouring women. What about empowering Women’s Legacy through Augmented Reality? As a storytelling company, Snap knows that stories have the power to change hearts, minds, and behaviors. Stories create empathy, which can inspire behavior change across Snap and the broader industry. And although our industry is data-driven, we understand numbers are not a substitute for lived experience. The differing lived experience of underrepresented groups can reduce feelings of belonging, which in turn reduces opportunity to realize potential. Snap’s goal in inspiring empathy is to create a shared culture of belonging for all.
To celebrate International Women’s Day, March 8, 2023, Snap’s AR Studio has been honouring 8 emblematic women in 8 major French cities (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lille, Strasbourg, Metz and Nantes) through a unique augmented reality experience: “March 8, 8 women”. “March 8, 8 women” has been a unique opportunity to demonstrate Augmented Reality’s impact in supporting Great National Cause (French president Emmanuel Macron has declared Equity a priority for 2023), while showcasing Snap’s creative and technologic leadership in AR.
While as many women as men have marked the course of history, the vast majority of sculptures in the urban space in France (squares, gardens and streets) honour male characters. Snap’s AR Studio has thus imagined augmented reality statues of women who have left their mark on history in the fields of politics, arts and letters or resistance. These augmented reality statues are installed next to the physical statues of their male counterparts – hence creating a silent dialogue between two historical figures, a male & a female, a physical & a virtual, both having lived in the same era, walked similar fields, achieved close successes.
Each of these 8 virtual statues honours the achievements of the following 8 great women in history and helps to commemorate their contributions to French society:
Simone Veil: Champion of women’s rights, emblem of the 1975 law that legalized abortion, and the first female president of the European Parliament. Her augmented reality statue will be positioned next to the physical one of General Charles de Gaulle on the Champs-Elysées roundabout in Paris.
Simone de Beauvoir: An acclaimed writer and philosopher of the existentialist movement. As an anti-conformist, she advocated for the emancipation of women in her writings, such as her 1949 book The Second Sex, and became one of the pioneers of French feminism in the 20th century. Her augmented reality statue will be placed next to the physical one of 20th century poet and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, at Place Bellecour in Lyon.
Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun: Admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1783 and the official painter to Marie Antoinette, she achieved critical and popular success in the artistic world despite the many obstacles facing female artists of her time. Her augmented reality statue will be placed next to the physical one of 18th century artist Pierre Puget, in the Parc Borély in Marseille.
Françoise de Graffigny: One of the most emblematic female figures of 18th century French literature, best known for her philosophical essay Letters from a Peruvian Woman published in 1747. Her augmented reality statue will be positioned next to the physical one of renown philosopher Montesquieu, at Place des Quinconces in Bordeaux.
Manon Tardon: Figure of the French Resistance and Free France, she was present on May 8, 1945, in Berlin when the surrender of Nazi Germany was signed. Her augmented reality statue will be positioned next to the physical one of World War 2 hero Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, at Square Amiral Halgan in Nantes.
Josephine Baker: An American-born singer, actress, feminist, showgirl, and French resistance fighter, Josephine Baker was a spy for the Free French Forces, an emblem of the Paris of the Roaring Twenties, and an influential figure in the fight against racial segregation. Her augmented reality statue will be placed next to the physical one of resistant fighter Jean Moulin, at Gare Centrale in Metz.
Olympe de Gouges: Principal author of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Citizen published in 1791, she is considered one of the French pioneers of feminism. Her augmented reality statue will be positioned next to the physical one of French Revolution leader Jean-Baptiste Kléber, at Place Kléber in Strasbourg.
Hubertine Auclert: Journalist, feminist activist, and founder of the society Le droit des femmes in 1876, she advocated for women’s economic independence, the right to education, and equality in marriage and divorce. Her augmented reality statue will be positioned next to the physical one of early 20th-century activist Léon Trulin, at Place du Théâtre (not far from the Lille Opera).
“Through this innovative experience installed in 8 cities in France, we want to pay tribute to 8 women who have changed French history and society through their actions, their writings, or their positions. Thanks to Snap’s augmented reality technologies, we were able to celebrate those 8 women by building their statues in the public space by placing them alongside statues of men. By establishing a silent dialogue between these historical figures, our wish is to raise public awareness of the fight for women’s rights.” — Donatien Bozon, AR Studio Director.
To design this outstanding augmented reality experience, AR Studio Paris teamed up with French Women’s Rights advocate and influencer Aude Gogny-Goubert, drew inspiration from academic essays (Women & cities, Presses universitaires François-Rabelais, 2004), and requested the patronage of SnapWomen EMEA, a Snap’s Employee Representative Group supporting Equity. An all-female panel vetted the 8 female historical figures (and their male counterpart), from more than twenty curated candidates.
It took AR Studio Paris and its partners a total of 3 months, from ideation to launch, to create true virtual monument as close to physical ones as possible. 3D artists and producers scrutinized the physical statues in order to develop a virtual counterpart replicating sculpting techniques and materials. AR engineers exploited Snap Inc. proprietary technologies (Location AR, Environment mapping, Surface Tracking…) to bring this augmented reality experience to life.
The AR experience “March 8, 8 Women” has been available since March 8, 2023, sharing, with Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lille, Strasbourg, Metz and Nantes citizen and visitors, 8 permanent virtual monument exclusively available on Snapchat… thus building momentum to advocate Equity across France.
Snap believes that augmented reality—digital content overlaid over the real world—represents the next major shift in computing. Like ephemeral messaging and vertical video, Snap also pioneered augmented reality. Today Snap is leading in AR, from a technology, scale, and creator perspective. Snap’s vision for AR is rooted in innovation and stems from our desire to solve problems for our community in a creative way through human-centric design, and the desire to create a more positive reality rather than escape the problems our society faces. As it turns out, Snapchatters love the world around them and the friends and family they share it with, so why not use technology to enhance it for the better?
SOCIAL
An Overview of the Evolving Data Landscape Powering AI, VR, and More [Infographic]
![An Overview of the Evolving Data Landscape Powering AI, VR, and More [Infographic] An Overview of the Evolving Data Landscape Powering AI, VR, and More [Infographic]](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701770165_An-Overview-of-the-Evolving-Data-Landscape-Powering-AI-VR.jpg)
While AI and large language models (LLMs) become more commonplace, it’s worth considering the amount of computational power, and data storage, that these systems require to operate.
Demand for high-grade GPUs, for example, is still exceeding demand, as more tech companies and investors look to muscle in, while the big players continue to build on their data center capacity, in order to beat smaller systems out of the market.
That, inevitably, means that control over many of these new processes will eventually fall to those with the most money, and even if you have concerns about next-level computational power being governed by CEOs and corporations, there’s not a heap that you can do about it, as they need an established holding to even get in.
Well, unless a government steps in and seeks to build its own infrastructure in order to facilitate AI development, though that seems unlikely.
And it’s not just AI, with crypto processes, complex analysis, and advanced scientific discovery now largely reliant on a few key providers that have available capacity.
It’s a concern, but essentially, you can expect to see a lot more investment in big data centers and processing facilities over the coming years.
This new overview from Visual Capitalist (for Hive Digital) provides some additional context. Here, the VC team have broken down the current data center landscape, and what we’re going to need to facilitate next-level AI, VR, the metaverse, and more.
It’s an eye-opening summary. You can check out Visual Capitalists’ full overview here.
SOCIAL
30 Quick Ways to Increase Your Website’s Conversion Rate [Infographic]
![30 Quick Ways to Increase Your Website’s Conversion Rate [Infographic] 30 Quick Ways to Increase Your Website’s Conversion Rate [Infographic]](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701723364_30-Quick-Ways-to-Increase-Your-Websites-Conversion-Rate-Infographic.jpg)
Looking to drive more direct conversions from your website listings this holiday season?
The team from Red Website Design share 30 ways to improve your website conversion rate in this infographic.
Here’s the top five from the list:
- Include as few fields as possible on forms
- Use testimonials
- Clearly state product/service benefits
- Include subscriber and social media follower counts
- Write clear, compelling copy
Check out the infographic for more detail.
A version of this post was first published on the Red Website Design blog.
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