{ "meta": { "exportedAt": "2026-09-22T15:21:32.396Z", "formatVersion": 2, "selection": { "q": "illinois", "system": "", "harm": "", "context": "", "country": "", "role": "", "relation": "contextual", "evidence": "", "year": "", "response": "", "severity": "", "verification": "", "view": "incidents", "sort": "added" }, "totalIncidents": 2, "coverage": { "cases": 2, "countries": 1, "languages": 1, "unknownLocation": 1, "locationPending": 0, "unknownLanguage": 0, "unknownDate": 0, "lawsuits": 1, "regulatory": 0, "minors": 0, "coreRelations": 0, "contextualRelations": 2, "mixedRelations": 0, "unknownRelations": 0, "relationPending": 0, "relationUnknown": 0 }, "countingNote": "Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.", "affectedCountNote": "Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.", "source": "NOPE Incident Tracker", "url": "https://nope.net/incidents", "license": "CC BY 4.0" }, "incidents": [ { "id": "2025-washington-il-snapchat-flag-student-teacher-arrest", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "reported", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'The social media site flagged the message and warned the FBI, which then notified the Sheriff's Office'; 'the office had been informed on Jan. 29, 2025, at 1:06 p.m. that the FBI had received a threat via Snapchat involving someone at John A. Hensey School in Washington.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "District email: 'The use of that obviously inappropriate language on the social media site triggered a report to law enforcement who subsequently interviewed the student teacher.'", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "Snapchat's systems flagged the woman's private group-chat message and warned the FBI, which notified the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office on 29 January 2025 at 1:06 p.m.", "causal_attribution": "One outlet group (Peoria Journal Star) carrying two distinct records (sheriff's reports via FOIA; the district's email). The flagging technology is unspecified; no second independent outlet describes the mechanism, so the claim stays reported." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'In a chat with her boyfriend and her two roommates, she advised whether she should \"shoot the child or just the whole school?\"' (sheriff's reports).", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'Volpe sent the message to her friends, asking them whether she should \"shoot\" the student.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "The flagged message asked whether she should 'shoot the child or just the whole school' (sheriff's reports' rendering); the district's email and 25News Now report her asking friends whether she should 'shoot' the student.", "causal_attribution": "Wordings differ slightly between the sheriff's reports and the district/25News accounts; both versions are attributed. She confirmed sending the message and said it was a joke." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Body-cam account: interview in an empty classroom, Miranda rights, the flagged message shown, consent forms, classroom search finding nothing; 'she would be arrested in Tazewell County'.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "'deputies arrested [her] at John L. Hensey Elementary School around 1 p.m. Wednesday. She was booked into the Tazewell County Jail for disorderly conduct.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "Deputies interviewed her at the school, read her Miranda rights, searched her phone and belongings with consent and found no weapons; they arrested her on a disorderly conduct charge and she was booked into the Tazewell County Jail.", "causal_attribution": "The arrest and booking are established by two independent local outlets; the interview detail comes from the FOIA body-cam footage and police reports." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'Deputies interviewed her and came to the conclusion that she made the comment out of \"exasperation,\" had no intentions to harm anyone, and was not a threat to the school.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" }, { "locator": "District email: 'Law enforcement officers quickly determined that the student teacher made the statement out of exasperation... but did not have any actual intent to shoot anyone or otherwise cause harm.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "The Sheriff's Office and the district concluded the remark was made out of exasperation, with no intent to harm and no threat to the school.", "causal_attribution": "Both the district's letter and the deputies' own conclusion are attributed; no source reports any contrary finding." }, { "id": "c5", "status": "corroborated", "evidence": [ { "locator": "'it said the student teacher would not be returning to District 50 to complete her assignment.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "Superintendent Chad Allaman's letter: 'Volpe is not returning to the school to finish her educational assignment.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "The district told parents she would not return to District 50 to complete her educational assignment.", "causal_attribution": "The district's decision is attributed to its own letter carried by two outlets." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "arrest and loss of a teaching placement after an automated flag escalated a private joke to law enforcement", "claim_id": "c3", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/local/2026/04/10/how-an-fbi-tip-led-to-arrest-of-a-student-teacher-in-washington-illinois/88217675007/", "kind": "news_report_foia_records", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2026-04-10T11:15Z; 34 paragraphs). Based on sheriff's deputy and detective reports plus body-camera footage obtained by FOIA from the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office.", "independence_group": "pjstar" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/education/2025/01/30/washington-il-student-teacher-makes-inappropriate-shooting-comment-district-says/78061557007/", "kind": "news_report", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2025-01-30T23:13Z). Based on the District 50 email to parents; withheld the teacher's name.", "independence_group": "pjstar" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://www.25newsnow.com/2025/01/31/exasperated-student-teacher-wont-return-after-allegedly-commenting-about-shooting-student/", "kind": "local_tv_news", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read in English on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2025-01-31T17:07Z). Attributes to deputies and the school district; names the teacher from jail records — the name is deliberately not carried into this public record.", "independence_group": "week-25news" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://thoughtcatalog.com/jeremy-london/2026/08/snapchat-scans-your-private-group-chats-and-a-22-year-old-teacher-found-out-when-deputies-showed-up-to-arrest-her-over-a-joke/", "kind": "content_farm_rehash", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read on 2026-09-15 (datePublished 2026-08-02). Two substantive paragraphs, 'reportedly' framing, no place, date or document; derivative of the 2025 local reporting with embellishments. Recorded for provenance; never cited as support.", "independence_group": "thought-catalog" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "institutional_use" ], "contexts": [ "education", "work", "justice", "privacy" ], "unknowns": [ "The disposition of the disorderly conduct charge (dismissal, plea, supervision) is not reported in the inspected sources.", "The flagging technology Snapchat used (automated classifiers, hash matching or otherwise) is not specified in the inspected records.", "Whether she continued teacher training elsewhere is not reported.", "The school's name appears as 'John A. Hensey School' (Peoria Journal Star) and 'John L. Hensey Elementary School' (25News Now); the discrepancy is unresolved.", "The exact interval between sending the message and the FBI referral is not stated; content-farm claims of 'within an hour' are unverified." ], "geography": { "basis": "Event: John A. Hensey School, Washington, Illinois (25News Now renders the school name 'John L. Hensey Elementary School'), and the Tazewell County Jail. Affected person: the student teacher at that school. No court proceeding is reported, so court_countries is [].", "court_countries": [], "event_countries": [ "US" ], "affected_person_countries": [ "US" ] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional-use automated-moderation case: a consequential institutional response (arrest, placement loss) to an automated flag of a private message, documented by FOIA-based local reporting. She is an adult; although local TV named her from jail records, she is not named here because deputies cleared her of intent and republication adds reputational risk without evidential value.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "Police reports obtained under FOIA state 'the social media site flagged the message and warned the FBI', and the district's email says the language use 'triggered a report to law enforcement'; no human reporter was involved. The flagging technology (automated classifiers or otherwise) is not specified in the inspected records.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "made_decision_about", "made_claim_about" ] }, "name": "Washington, Illinois: Snapchat flagged a student teacher's private joke to the FBI; she was arrested at her school and lost her placement", "summary": "On 29 January 2025, a 22-year-old student teacher at a District 50 elementary school in Washington, Illinois, vented in a private Snapchat group chat with her boyfriend and two roommates after a third-grade student turned off her computer mid lesson-plan, asking whether she should 'shoot the child or just the whole school' (per sheriff's reports). Snapchat's systems flagged the message and warned the FBI, which notified the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office at 1:06 p.m. Deputies interviewed her at the school, confirmed she sent it as a joke, searched her phone and belongings with her consent and found no weapons, and arrested her on a disorderly conduct charge; they concluded she had spoken out of 'exasperation' with no intent to harm and no threat to the school. The district told parents she would not return to complete her educational assignment.", "incidentDate": "2025-01-29", "incidentKind": "single_event", "incidentDatePrecision": "day", "exposurePattern": "single_interaction", "reportedDate": "2025-01-30", "aiSystem": "Snapchat automated content-flagging system", "aiCompany": "Snap Inc.", "severity": "medium", "verificationStatus": "credible", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "legal_harm", "professional_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "A private joke flagged by an automated system led to an armed-response interview at her workplace, arrest and jail booking on a disorderly conduct charge, and the loss of her student-teaching placement, although deputies and the district concluded she never intended harm.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "supported", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "One documented harmed person: the student teacher, subject to the platform's institutional automated flagging (counted under institutional use, not as an AI user). No student or staff member was aware of the conversation per the district; the referenced third-grade student is not counted as harmed (deputies found no threat and no one else saw the private message).", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "jurisdiction": "US", "platformType": "other", "outcomeType": "criminal_charges", "outcomeStatus": "unknown", "primarySourceUrl": "https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/local/2026/04/10/how-an-fbi-tip-led-to-arrest-of-a-student-teacher-in-washington-illinois/88217675007/", "primarySourceLabel": "Peoria Journal Star (10 Apr 2026) — FOIA-based account: sheriff's reports and body-camera footage", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-15T05:24:48.263548+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "privacy", "automated-moderation", "snapchat", "education", "arrest", "institutional-use", "illinois" ] }, { "id": "2025-keene-v-google-ai-overview-defamation", "caseFacts": { "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Opinion page 2 lists Overviews 1–4 separately: 1, 2 and 4 concern life without parole; 2 mentions murders of three women; 3 says he was convicted of drug trafficking. The analysis of Overview 3 and conclusion explain its substantial-truth dismissal.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Complaint excerpt: statements that he 'is serving a life sentence without parole for multiple convictions' and 'for the murders of 3 women'.", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s4" } ], "assertion": "The court’s opinion recounts four challenged Google AI Overviews between approximately 24 May and 27 June 2025. The complaint alleges that Overviews 1, 2 and 4 falsely said Keene was serving life without parole, with Overview 2 adding murders of three women. Overview 3 instead said he had been convicted of drug trafficking; the court considered that statement substantially true.", "causal_attribution": "Allegations of the complaint as recited by the court; accepted as true only for the motion to dismiss." }, { "id": "c2", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Page 2: 'Keene complained to Google about the false statements on three occasions ... Google allegedly apologized ... and deemed the statements errors made by its Artificial Intelligence.' and 'AI Overviews 1 and 2 were seen by various family members, friends, and acquaintances.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Complaint excerpt: 27 May 2025 complaint; Google 'privately apologized', attributing the statements to 'an unknown error made by their Artificial Intelligence Platform'.", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s4" } ], "assertion": "The complaint alleges he notified Google on 27 May, 31 May and after 27 June 2025, that Google apologised each time and attributed the statements to errors by its AI, and that Overviews 1 and 2 were seen by family members, friends and acquaintances.", "causal_attribution": "Allegations as recited by the court." }, { "id": "c3", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Pages 1 and 12: 'that motion is granted in part and denied in part' ... 'the Court denies Google's motion to dismiss AI Overviews 1 and 2, and grants Google's motion to dismiss AI Overviews 3 and 4 without prejudice. Keene may file an amended complaint by October 13, 2026.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Docket entry 29, 14 September 2026: 'Memorandum Opinion and Order AND Order on Motion to Dismiss'.", "relation": "context", "source_id": "s2" }, { "locator": "Post quoting the opinion's actual-malice and disclaimer holdings.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s3" } ], "assertion": "On 14 September 2026 Judge Thomas M. Durkin denied Google's motion to dismiss the defamation per se claim as to Overviews 1 and 2, holding that the plaintiff, a public figure, had plausibly pleaded actual malice through his three notifications, and dismissed the claims on Overviews 3 (substantially true) and 4 (publication not alleged) without prejudice, with leave to amend by 13 October 2026.", "causal_attribution": "Court ruling on the pleadings; no finding of liability." }, { "id": "c4", "status": "documented", "evidence": [ { "locator": "Page 2: 'Keene filed his complaint ... on July 30, 2025, in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Google removed the suit to federal court on September 22, 2025.'", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s1" }, { "locator": "Docket header: filed 22 September 2025, No. 1:25-cv-11431.", "relation": "supports", "source_id": "s2" } ], "assertion": "The suit was filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County on 30 July 2025 and removed by Google to federal court on 22 September 2025.", "causal_attribution": "Procedural history from the court record." } ], "effects": [ { "label": "reputational_harm_from_false_ai_statements", "claim_id": "c1", "direction": "negative" } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "url": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilnd.486629/gov.uscourts.ilnd.486629.29.0.pdf", "kind": "court_opinion", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Memorandum Opinion and Order, ECF No. 29, filed 14 September 2026; PDF read in full via CourtListener RECAP on 2026-09-15.", "independence_group": "court-record" }, { "id": "s2", "url": "https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71417738/keene-v-google-llc/", "kind": "court_docket", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Public docket page read on 2026-09-15.", "independence_group": "court-record" }, { "id": "s3", "url": "https://reason.com/volokh/2026/09/14/federal-court-allows-libel-by-ai-claim-brought-by-protagonist-of-apple-tvs-black-bird-series-to-go-forward/", "kind": "legal_commentary", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read on 2026-09-15; quotes the opinion.", "independence_group": "court-record" }, { "id": "s4", "url": "https://reason.com/volokh/2025/09/23/from-prison-to-helping-the-fbi-to-an-apple-tv-miniseries-to-google-hallucinated-libel/", "kind": "legal_commentary", "access": "read", "language": "en", "translation_note": "Read on 2026-09-15; quotes the complaint at removal.", "independence_group": "court-record" } ], "version": 1, "ai_roles": [ "institutional_use" ], "contexts": [ "everyday_life", "privacy", "justice" ], "unknowns": [ "The plaintiff's residence and the locations where the Overviews were generated or viewed are not stated in the inspected records.", "No damages figure appears in the inspected records.", "The complaint exhibits (screenshots of the Overviews) were not inspected.", "The case continues; an amended complaint was due by 13 October 2026." ], "geography": { "basis": "The AI Overviews were generated online in response to searches; where they were generated or viewed is not stated. The plaintiff's residence is not stated in the inspected records, and the charter does not infer a country from the court. Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, after removal from the Circuit Court of Cook County.", "court_countries": [ "US" ], "event_countries": [], "affected_person_countries": [] }, "publication": { "basis": "Published on the strength of the court's own opinion and docket, read in full, with legal commentary as context. The plaintiff is a public figure who sued under his own name; allegations are attributed to the complaint and the ruling is limited to the pleadings.", "reviewed_on": "2026-09-15" }, "ai_involvement": { "basis": "The statements at issue appeared in Google's AI Overviews, and the court's opinion recites the allegation that Google attributed them to errors by its artificial intelligence. The screenshots are exhibits to the complaint and were not inspected here; the court accepted the allegations as true for the motion to dismiss only.", "status": "supported" }, "person_relations": [ "made_claim_about" ] }, "name": "Keene v. Google: defamation claim over AI Overviews calling an author a convicted murderer survives dismissal", "summary": "An author and television producer, the subject of the Apple TV series 'Black Bird', sued Google, alleging that AI Overviews shown for searches about him in May and June 2025 falsely said he was serving a life sentence without parole, in one version for the murders of three women. He says he notified Google three times and received apologies attributing the statements to its AI, yet similar statements kept appearing. On 14 September 2026 the Northern District of Illinois denied Google's motion to dismiss as to two of the four challenged Overviews and dismissed the other two without prejudice. This was a ruling on the pleadings, not a finding that the allegations were proven.", "incidentDate": "2025-05-24", "incidentEndDate": "2025-06-27", "incidentKind": "bounded_series", "incidentDatePrecision": "range", "exposurePattern": "unknown", "reportedDate": "2025-09-23", "aiSystem": "Google AI Overviews", "aiCompany": "Google LLC", "severity": "medium", "verificationStatus": "verified", "harmCategories": [], "harmOutcomes": [ "reputational_harm" ], "harmOutcomeSummary": "The plaintiff alleges that false AI-generated statements that he was a convicted murderer serving life without parole were shown to searchers, including family, friends and acquaintances, and continued after he notified Google.", "frameworkFacets": [], "causationStatus": "alleged", "participantUsersAffectedMin": 0, "otherPeopleHarmedMin": 1, "affectedCountStatus": "exact", "affectedCountEvidence": "One person is the subject of the alleged defamatory statements and the plaintiff (court opinion). Family and acquaintances who saw the statements are not counted as harmed.", "victimAgeRange": "adult", "outcomeType": "lawsuit_ongoing", "outcomeStatus": "ongoing", "primarySourceUrl": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilnd.486629/gov.uscourts.ilnd.486629.29.0.pdf", "primarySourceLabel": "Memorandum Opinion and Order, Keene v. Google LLC, No. 25 C 11431 (N.D. Ill. 14 September 2026), ECF No. 29, via CourtListener RECAP", "firstPublishedAt": "2026-09-15T03:23:44.732123+00:00", "scopeVersion": "facts-v3", "tags": [ "defamation", "ai-overviews", "google", "hallucination", "lawsuit", "reputational-harm" ] } ] }