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How a right-wing troll and a Russian Twitter account created 2016's biggest voter fraud story
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/how-right-wing-troll-russian-twitter-account-created-2016-s-n925711A single tweet highlights how Russia’s disinformation campaign was able to seize on political content posted to social media in order to spread distrust.
When Naim Tyler tweeted a video on Nov. 8, 2016, that showed an alleged voting machine malfunction in favor of Hillary Clinton, he expected some attention. But he didn’t realize what was about to happen.
The video he posted showed him repeatedly pressing the button for Donald Trump, while the machine’s indicator light stayed on for Clinton. It turned out that the machine was working properly, and that Tyler wasn’t following the instructions for changing his vote. But nonetheless, the video aligned with right-wing conspiracy theories and went viral, aided by Russia’s then-unknown disinformation campaign.
“BREAKING: Machine Refuses to Allow Vote For Trump in Pennsylvania!! RT the hell out of it! #VoterFraud #voted #ElectionDay” tweeted @Ten_GOP, a Kremlin-backed Twitter account masquerading as Tennessee’s Republican party. It was retweeted more than 29,000 times and picked up by dozens of media outlets.
“I kind of had a feeling it was going to end up getting a couple thousand retweets and people were going to see it, but I didn’t know it was going to blow up like it did,” said Tyler, who goes by @lordaedonis on Twitter and has close ties to alt-right groups. “I wish I had said something on the video instead of just poking the screen like a dummy.”
Tyler’s story highlights how Russia’s disinformation campaign was able to seize on political content posted to social media by politically motivated Americans in order to spread distrust in the election.
When Naim Tyler tweeted a video on Nov. 8, 2016, that showed an alleged voting machine malfunction in favor of Hillary Clinton, he expected some attention. But he didn’t realize what was about to happen.
The video he posted showed him repeatedly pressing the button for Donald Trump, while the machine’s indicator light stayed on for Clinton. It turned out that the machine was working properly, and that Tyler wasn’t following the instructions for changing his vote. But nonetheless, the video aligned with right-wing conspiracy theories and went viral, aided by Russia’s then-unknown disinformation campaign.
“BREAKING: Machine Refuses to Allow Vote For Trump in Pennsylvania!! RT the hell out of it! #VoterFraud #voted #ElectionDay” tweeted @Ten_GOP, a Kremlin-backed Twitter account masquerading as Tennessee’s Republican party. It was retweeted more than 29,000 times and picked up by dozens of media outlets.
“I kind of had a feeling it was going to end up getting a couple thousand retweets and people were going to see it, but I didn’t know it was going to blow up like it did,” said Tyler, who goes by @lordaedonis on Twitter and has close ties to alt-right groups. “I wish I had said something on the video instead of just poking the screen like a dummy.”
Tyler’s story highlights how Russia’s disinformation campaign was able to seize on political content posted to social media by politically motivated Americans in order to spread distrust in the election.
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