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U.S. NEWS Monday 8 april 2024
Anonymous users are dominating right-wing discussions online

By ALI SWENSON and ME- protected their anonymity.
LISSA GOLDIN In March, X updated its pri-
Associated Press vacy policy to ban people
NEW YORK (AP) — The re- from exposing the identity
posts and expressions of of an anonymous user.
shock from public figures Musk also rewards high en-
followed quickly after a gagement with financial
user on the social platform payouts. The X user who
X who uses a pseudonym spread the false informa-
claimed that a government tion about new voter regis-
website had revealed “sky- trants has racked up more
rocketing” rates of voters than 2.4 million followers
registering without a photo since joining the platform
ID in three states this year — in 2022. The user, in a post
two of them crucial to the last July, reported earning
presidential contest. more than $10,000 from X’s
“Extremely concerning,” new creator ad revenue
X owner Elon Musk replied program. X did not respond
twice to the post this past to a request for comment,
week. which was met with an au-
“Are migrants registering tomated reply.
to vote using SSN?” Geor- Tech watchdogs said that
gia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk addresses the European Jewish Association’s conference, Jan. while it’s critical to main-
22, 2024, in Krakow, Poland.
Greene, an ally of former Associated Press tain spaces for anony-
President Donald Trump, mous voices online, they
asked on Instagram, using the people or groups be- “They’re co-opting the lan- thorities or to speak freely shouldn’t be allowed to
the acronym for Social Se- hind them through clever guage of genuine whistle- about sensitive experienc- spread lies without ac-
curity number. slogans and cartoon ava- blowing or democratically es. Many left-wing protest- countability.
Trump himself posted to tars have come to domi- inclined leaking. In fact ers adopted anonymous “Companies must vigorous-
his own social platform nate right-wing political dis- what they’re doing is anti- online identities during the ly enforce terms of service
within hours to ask, “Who cussion online even as they thetical to democracy.” Occupy Wall Street move- and content policies that
are all those voters regis- spread false information. The claim that spread on- ment of the early 2010s. promote election integrity
tering without a Photo ID The accounts enjoy a mas- line this past week misused The meteoric rise of a and information integrity
in Texas, Pennsylvania, and sive reach that is boosted Social Security Administra- group of right-wing pseud- generally,” said Kate Ru-
Arizona??? What is going by engagement algo- tion data tracking routine onymous influencers who ane, director of the Free
on???” rithms, by social media requests made by states to act as alternative informa- Expression Project at the
State election officials soon companies greatly reduc- verify the identity of individ- tion sources has been more Center for Democracy and
found themselves forced ing or eliminating efforts to uals who registered to vote recent. It’s coincided with Technology.
to respond. They said the remove phony or harmful using the last four digits of a decline in public trust in The success of these ac-
user, who pledges to fight, material, and by endorse- their Social Security num- government and media counts shows how finan-
expose and mock “woke- ments from high-profile ber. These requests are of- through the 2020 presiden- cially savvy users have de-
ness,” was wrong and had figures such as Musk. They ten made multiple times for tial election and the CO- ployed the online trolling
distorted Social Security also can generate substan- the same individual, mean- VID-19 pandemic. playbook to their advan-
Administration data. Actu- tial financial rewards from ing they do not necessar- These influencers frequent- tage, said Dale Beran, a
al voter registrations during X and other platforms by ily correspond one-to-one ly spread misinformation lecturer at Morgan State
the time period cited were ginning up outrage against with people registering to and otherwise misleading University and the author of
much lower than the num- Democrats. vote. content, often in service of “It Came from Something
bers being shared online. Many such internet person- The larger implication is that the same recurring narra- Awful: How a Toxic Troll
Stephen Richer, the re- alities identify as patriotic the cited data represents tives such as alleged voter Army Accidentally Memed
corder in Maricopa Coun- citizen journalists uncov- people who entered the fraud, the “woke agenda” Donald Trump into Office.”
ty, Arizona, which includes ering real corruption. Yet U.S. illegally and are sup- or Democrats supposedly “The art of trolling is to get
Phoenix, refuted the claim their demonstrated ability posedly registering to vote encouraging a surge of the other person enraged,”
in multipleX posts while to spread misinformation with Social Security num- people through illegal im- he said. “And we now know
Jane Nelson, the secretary unchecked while disguis- bers they received for work migration to steal elections getting someone enraged
of state in Texas, issued a ing their true motives wor- authorization documents. or replace whites. They of- really fuels engagement
statement calling it “totally ries experts with the United But only U.S. citizens are ten use similar content and and gives you followers
inaccurate.” States in a presidential allowed to vote in federal reshare each other’s posts. and so will get you paid. So
Yet by the time they tried election year. elections and illegal vot- The account that posted now it’s sort of a business.”
to correct the record, the They are exploiting a long ing by those who are not is the recent misinformation Some pseudonymous ac-
false claim had spread history of trust in American exceedingly rare because also has spread bogus in- counts on X have used
widely. In three days, the whistleblowers and anony- states have processes to formation about the Israel- their brands to build loyal
pseudonymous user’s claim mous sources, said Samuel prevent it. Hamas war, sharing a post audiences on other plat-
amassed more than 63 mil- Woolley, director of the Accounts that do not dis- last fall that falsely claimed forms, from Instagram to
lion views on X, according Propaganda Research Lab close the identities of those to show a Palestinian “crisis the video-sharing platform
to the platform’s metrics. A at the University of Texas at behind them have thrived actor” pretending to be se- Rumble and the encrypt-
thorough explanation from Austin. online for years, gaining riously injured. ed messaging platform
Richer attracted a fraction “With these types of ac- followers for their content Since his takeover of Twitter Telegram. The accounts
of that, reaching 2.4 million counts, there’s an allure of on politics, humor, human in 2022, Musk has nurtured themselves — and many
users. covertness, there’s this idea rights and more. People the rise of these accounts, of their followers — pub-
The incident sheds light on that they somehow might have used anonymity on frequently commenting licly promote their pride in
how social media accounts know something that oth- social media to avoid per- on their posts and sharing America and its founding
that shield the identities of er people don’t,” he said. secution by repressive au- their content. He also has documents.q