Here is the result:
Two days after a helicopter collided with a passenger jet in Washington in January, killing 67 people, Jo Ellis woke up to a flurry of text messages. Ms. Ellis, a 35-year-old helicopter pilot in the Virginia Army National Guard, learned from friends that her name and photos were all over social media. Users were falsely naming her as the pilot who had crashed into a passenger jet on Jan. 29 — a sign, in the eyes of the online mob, that diversity initiatives had played a role in the crash because Ms. Ellis is transgender.
She posted a “proof of life” video on Facebook — emphasizing that she was very much alive and well in an attempt to slow the spread, but claims seemed to multiply.
“Forever on, I’m known as ‘that trans terrorist,’” Ms. Ellis said in an interview.
Ms. Ellis filed a defamation lawsuit on Wednesday against Matt Wallace, an influencer on X with more than two million followers.
Mr. Wallace deleted his posts about Ms. Ellis after her Facebook video started spreading online. He posted an “important update” on the afternoon of Jan. 31, writing that Ms. Ellis “was not piloting the helicopter that crashed in to the plane and is still alive.”
The filing claims that Mr. Wallace “concocted a destructive and irresponsible defamation campaign.” It was filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado, the state where Ms. Ellis’s lawyers said Mr. Wallace resides, and seeks monetary damages to be determined at trial.
Mr. Wallace did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
It is difficult for people who are targeted by digital misinformation to find recourse after lies spread about them online. Social media companies have softened their stance on content moderation in recent years, just as misinformation peddlers have become more prominent and closer to centers of power.
At the same time, the idea that social media influencers could be held personally and financially liable through defamation law for spreading overtly false statements online has grown as one potential avenue for combating misinformation.
Ms. Ellis said any financial compensation she might receive would be donated to the families of the victims in the crash.
“I believe in free speech, but I also believe in consequences to free speech,” Ms. Ellis said. “If you can stir up a mob because you say something that’s not true, that’s your right. But once the mob comes after someone, you’ve got to have some consequences.”
Speculation that a transgender pilot could have caused the collision on Jan. 29 emerged as a conspiracy theory almost immediately after a Black Hawk helicopter on a training exercise collided with a passenger jet over the Potomac River. Just days earlier, President Trump had signed an executive order attempting to bar transgender people from the military, prompting some users to speculate that the crash was an act of terrorism by an aggrieved transgender pilot.
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