Researcher claims that Harris campaign manipulates social media
Researcher claims that Harris campaign manipulates social media . (MENAFN) A researcher has alleged that the campaign teams of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz engaged in "astroturfing" on social media platforms, particularly Reddit and ...
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(MENAFN) A researcher has alleged that the campaign teams of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz engaged in "astroturfing" on social platforms, particularly Reddit and X (formerly Twitter), to manipulate public perception and suppress dissent. "Astroturfing" refers to the practice of creating artificial grassroots support, which is misleadingly presented as genuine public sentiment.



Sean Davis, founder of the conservative outlet Federalist, claimed in a recent post that the Harris-Walz campaign has been using deceptive tactics to exploit the Community Notes feature on X. This feature, introduced by Elon Musk after his acquisition of Twitter in 2022, allows users to flag misleading content without resorting to outright censorship. Davis asserted that he possesses evidence, including screenshots and spreadsheets, demonstrating the campaign's manipulation of this feature through "sock puppet" accounts and astroturf strategies.



According to Davis, the evidence comes from a series of articles published by a researcher known as "Reddit Lies," which included purported screenshots from a Discord server used by the Harris-Walz campaign. These documents allegedly reveal plans to flood social media with favorable content while actively working to undermine criticism. In one notable instance, Timothy Durigan, an employee of the Democratic National Committee, reportedly instructed campaign volunteers to vote down a Community Note that identified inaccuracies in a post by the @KamalaHQ account.



The allegations suggest that multiple official accounts associated with the Harris-Walz campaign have repeatedly presented misleading portrayals of their political opponents, such as former President Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance. Notably, even mainstream media outlets like CNN have called attention to these misleading representations. However, the researcher noted that very few of the campaign's "false and misleading tweets" have received Community Notes, implying a concerted effort to suppress negative feedback.



These revelations raise serious questions about the integrity of online political campaigning and the lengths to which political teams may go to shape narratives in their favor. As the political landscape becomes increasingly competitive and fraught with misinformation, the scrutiny of such tactics may intensify as voters seek to discern truth from manipulation in the digital age.

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https://menafn.com/1108845481/Researcher-claims-that-Harris-campaign-manipulates-social-media
2024-11-03
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(MENAFN) A researcher has alleged that the campaign teams of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz engaged in "astroturfing" on social media platforms, particularly Reddit and ...
Researcher claims that Harris campaign manipulates social media