When Crisis Strikes, Disinformation Thrives

A cloud of confusion still hangs over Silicon Valley and the larger tech community following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 10, 2023. The government’s rescue of SVB and other banks over the weekend left many Americans scrambling to understand the details of financial systems, bank regulations, and the broader macroeconomic context that led to the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. In the aftermath of SVB’s collapse, conspiratorial and sensationalist narratives did what they do best: spread like wildfire.