this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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The reposts and expressions of shock from public figures followed quickly after a user on the social platform X who uses a pseudonym claimed that a government website had revealed “skyrocketing” rates of voters registering without a photo ID in three states this year — two of them crucial to the presidential contest.

“Extremely concerning,” X owner Elon Musk replied twice to the post this past week.

“Are migrants registering to vote using SSN?” Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, an ally of former President Donald Trump, asked on Instagram, using the acronym for Social Security number.

Trump himself posted to his own social platform within hours to ask, “Who are all those voters registering without a Photo ID in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Arizona??? What is going on???”

Yet by the time they tried to correct the record, the false claim had spread widely. In three days, the pseudonymous user’s claim amassed more than 63 million views on X, according to the platform’s metrics. A thorough explanation from Richer attracted a fraction of that, reaching 2.4 million users.

The incident sheds light on how social media accounts that shield the identities of the people or groups behind them through clever slogans and cartoon avatars have come to dominate right-wing political discussion online even as they spread false information.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

It makes sense. What's the first thing you're going to do when you arrive in a foreign country, when you have no money, don't speak the language, don't know what you're going to do tomorrow, have been through hell after literally walking thousands of kilometres?

Register for voting in the local presidential election of course! You still have your napkin that your communist contact gave you with a quick scribble: "Beeden, good; Troomp, no good".

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

And they're doing it because they think it is funny

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I truly am curious on why you think someone is spreading this amount of misinformation as a joke. Usually I see explanations such as:

  1. Russia and China are perpetrators of most of the misinformation
  2. Conservatives spreading misinformation (that they do believe) in order to make their conclusions more plausible (see Charlie Kirk)

I know trolls exist but could they really be this influential? I would hope not.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's been a staple rhetorical strategy for fascists to both be entirely serious and "totally joking" with the same exact statements. It allows them to consistently push the boundaries of acceptable prejudice while always having a fall-back. "You took that seriously!?!?".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Like the recent Rudy Guiliani's joke about New York (a place he ran) being a communist state. That seems to add up.

https://lemmy.world/post/14008856

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

"People acting like people in spaces where people gather. More on this breaking story at 11."

[–] [email protected] -1 points 7 months ago

But illegally, though

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