Minneapolis officials scrapped plans that would have shown them paying six locally popular social media influencers to broadcast messages in a bid to prevent riots during the trial of Derek Chauvin, the ex-police officer credited with the killing of George Floyd. Chauvin’s trial is estimated to start on March 8.The last minute reversal was in response to overwhelming criticism from both sides over the optics.
On Friday, $1,181,500 was acquired for the project to keep the community's peace. The influencers will be interacting specifically with black, Native American, and Latin American communities among other minority communities. Each one of the social media characters will be paid $2,000, according to WCCO.
“The City is collaborating with social media partners to share public information with cultural communities and to help dispel potential misinformation during the upcoming trials of the former officers involved in the killing of George Floyd,” stated the Minneapolis City Council.
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Some people have shown concern over the possible bias involved in this plan.
“The thing that is unique here is that you’re actually talking about individual people who are considered influencers that then become authorities,” Blois Olson, a local political analyst told KSTP. “Or they’re using taxpayer dollars to pay a person, and what’s that person's politics? What’s that person’s agenda?”
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