I was on reddit and ran across a video that the submission claimed to be of someone poisoning local pets. The video showed someone pouring something on the ground from a distance. We never see what it is.
Later we get a video where the camera person is screaming at the person they are recording. The person just walks away as the camera person follows them yelling.
I was a bit horrified that when I expressed in some skepticism I was meet with a lot of arguments like.
"Why didn't they stop to talk if they're innocent?"
"They didn't deny it."
"You know people really do this."
"You don't have to defend a dog killer you know."
People just took the text claims at face value despite the video showing nothing that it claimed, because they were upset by the claim in the text.
Apps that just have text and a photo, not even an image of a crime, people will believe it whole hog.
A during riots in Minneapolis a local social media apps and sites had rumors spread fast about drive by shootings by people on pickup trucks with assault rifles. These rumor spread several nights in a row despite it never appearing in the news and it being obvious that the previous night's rumors were 100% false.
One city council member spread the rumors of a full on Klan rally in a park with robes hoods and all... a completely absurd claim, folks bought it and spread it.
So back to the app, we have an app whose audience wants to hear this kind of information. That's a scary audience.