Numerous people on social media have claimed the shooting at the White House Correspondents' dinner was "staged." AFP via Getty Images

If you need more proof of how deranging our times have become just consider this. The number of times the word “staged” was used in the hours after the White House Correspondents Association dinner shooting last Saturday.

This isn´t only a problem for social media companies. It is a problem for our democracy. And it is one we need to tackle.

While hundreds of journalists were sheltering in place on Saturday evening, and the entire chain of command of the United States was being raced out of the room in DC, social media platforms were having a field-day.

Analysis shows that in the hours after Saturday´s attack the term “staged” (as in that the latest attempt on the life of President Trump was “staged”) appeared in more than 300,000 posts on X (formerly Twitter). Other platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube were filled with the same claims.…