The 2024 presidential campaign has been rife with fake news about Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz in recent months, all of which have been peddled by Donald Trump supporters. But nowhere is this news more abundant than in X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, which was bought in 2022 by far-right billionaire Elon Musk. And we can probably expect the absurd lies to get worse in the last two weeks of the campaign as Musk pours millions into Trump’s candidacy.
What do we mean by absurd lies? Take the recent story that went viral on X, purporting to be a testimonial from a former student of Tim Walz. The person in the video, falsely identified as Matthew Metro, said he was sexually assaulted by Walz. But anyone from Minnesota can immediately notice the big red flags. First, the person said he was a student at Mankato West, the high school where Walz worked in the 1990s and early 2000s. But one mispronounces the name Mankato and somehow even the word Minnesota sounds strange.
🚨 NEWS JUST ANNOUNCED:
A former student of Tim Walz, Matthew Metro, posted a video online claiming he was molested by Walz in 1997. If this is true, you are done. A Kamala Harris/ Tim Walz combo was made. It’s over.#KamalaDumpsterFire pic.twitter.com/n6cgr70VrG
— Matthew Cottrell (@MatthewLovesUSA) October 17, 2024
Why did this go viral? Because X’s algorithm was being developed on the For You server, as I personally saw on October 6. But the Washington Post spoke with Matthew Metro, apparently the name identified by the disinformation agents in the yearbook that was made public, who now lives in Hawaii.
“It’s obviously not me: The teeth are different, the hair is different, the eyes are different, the nose is different,” 45-year-old Metro told the Washington Post. “I don’t know where they got this from.”
Wired spoke to analysts who believe the video is the work of a Russian-backed disinformation program called Storm-1516, which also spread the false claim that Harris participated in a 2011 San Francisco protest. But Wired believes the video was created by AI, something not all experts agree on. What we do know for sure is that the video is clearly fake and is being circulated live on X.
Or take the viral video of the alleged bombshell going off during a cocaine bust at the White House. Former right-wing actors have insisted without evidence that the cocaine must have belonged to Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden. But since Biden dropped out of the race in July, many of those conspiracy theories have been repurposed to match Harris.
The video is made to look like a hidden camera reveal, complete with night vision green, hidden voices, and blurred faces. But it’s all these poorly executed details that make the video seem fake. First, if this was a real secret video shared by Trump supporters, why would they want to hide his identity from the Biden White House, especially if the camera was clearly hidden? The creators combined two different strategies, privacy disclosure and identity protection, which makes no sense for the rationale of this video if you think about the context of the video for even a second.
So the cocaine in the White House belonged to Kamala Harris….. No wonder why Joe Biden is upset…. pic.twitter.com/QSR3V9HdUh
— Zade Smith (@ZadeSmith4) October 3, 2024
There are also things about the video that are just ridiculously fake, like the crowd noise called “bar”. Cell phone videos have been around long enough now that we all know what background noise of various locations is heard on the camera. And this is apparently an audio file of stock background sounds superimposed. It’s really sad.
The script is full of right-wing ways to talk about Harris, pointing out his laughs and other things with MAGA’s honest hatred for the vice president. Even the visuals are more of a basement than an actual bar.
An account with the name Zade Smith using what appears to be an AI-generated image for an avatar is one of many that helped spread the fake video, garnering just over 2 million likes. There is also a line that seems to be popular and is being distributed on X by various accounts in a systematic way, generating millions of views of the claim, even without the video: “New leaks show that it was Kamala Harris, not Hunter Biden who brought the cocaine. in the White House in 2023. “
Another issue circulating on X recently was the claim that an ABC news investigator has tapes that could prove there was some kind of improper collusion between the Harris campaign and the news network before the presidential debate in September. The claim was started by an account known as “Black Insurrectionist” but after it spread far and wide, while the “whistleblower” complaint even included a poorly written “affidavit” sworn to the truth of the claims, which received X army of Trump supporters. I’m really happy. The whistleblower even sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, according to Black Insurrectionist.
But even right-wing purveyors like former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly had to admit it sounded bleak. And when Kelly reached Johnson’s office, they confirmed that he never received the letter.
“Now we can confirm that the speaker’s office did not receive the letter,” Kelly wrote on his website. “We spoke to a source with direct information who said Speaker Johnson’s office has never received the document in question. Additionally, the alleged tapes have never been made public. The accused referee has never come forward. We were told that he might file a lawsuit. That didn’t happen.”
But that didn’t stop Trump from seeking cooperation between the network and the Harris campaign. Whoever the so-called informer was, he did not appear, obviously. And the original account that started spreading this nonsense was deactivated by whoever was running it around October 18, according to a BBC fact-checker.
It really shouldn’t come as a surprise that people who want to elect Trump are spreading false information. They have been doing it for years. The only difference is that now they get a lot of support from Musk to make sure that as many people as possible see their junk on big platforms like X.
On the other hand, the Trump campaign is spreading fake news even at official campaign events. Over the weekend, Trump appeared at a McDonald’s in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania where he said he was “working” at the restaurant. In fact, the McDonald’s was closed and fans went through the drive-thru line to make it look like they were surprised to find Trump serving food. The video of the event is very funny if you know the context, as people in different cars try to act shocked that Trump is there. Everything was arranged in the last person.
Trump also frequently spreads bullshit about everything from FEMA to immigration, sometimes combining the two lies, as he did Monday during a photo shoot in North Carolina.
“Now, you know, in theory, they should have it, but they spent a lot of money on bringing illegal immigrants, people who come into our country illegally, into the United States,” Trump said, gritting his teeth. , “and bringing them in, and all the money they spent, numbers that no one would believe. So they don’t have money for the people who live here.”
Trump on disaster relief: They should have it, but they spend a lot of money to bring in illegal immigrants.. so they don’t have money for the people who live here. pic.twitter.com/o16iUBy76X
– Acyn (@Acyn) October 21, 2024
Trump has helped fuel conspiracy theories about hurricanes Helene and Milton, which have devastated many southern states. But FEMA has distributed millions in aid to people affected by the hurricanes, despite what Trump says. About $1.8 billion in federal funds for people and communities affected by Helene and Milton has been approved by the White House since last week.
“Federal assistance for those affected by the hurricanes includes $597 million to support survivors with housing repairs, personal property replacement and other critical recovery efforts,” according to an October 16 FEMA press release. “Additionally, more than 934 dollars for debris removal and emergency protective measures, necessary to save lives, protect public health and prevent further damage to public and private property.”
There are exactly 15 days left until the election is held on November 5 and many people are already voting. But the polls are so close that it’s clearly a toss-up at this point between Harris and Trump. And, we’re almost certain to see more dirty tricks on X in the next two weeks. But voters need to take everything they see with a grain of salt, especially on social media owned by MAGA billionaires who have donated $75 million and counting to Trump.
