Ukraine’s multiple strikes on Russian data centers couldn’t have been timed better, as Republicans are facing the harsh reality of losing both the House and the Senate in the midterm elections, while Trump’s approval rating has bottomed out at an all-time low.
Experts dispute Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s claims that the hits are taking out Russian disinformation accounts, saying there’s no evidence the attacks have significantly reduced bot activity on Twitter and other social media apps.
But users are reporting an obvious drop in troll replies not just on their posts, but on those from the White House and MAGA “influencer” accounts as well.
More data centers were hit last Thursday, causing even more celebration among liberal users — like yours truly — who have endured daily harassment from MAGA trolls for over a decade.
Trump’s MAGAbot Army was first assembled in 2015 after he co-opted Ronald Reagan’s “Let’s Make America Great Again” slogan. He made no attempts to hide his racism, xenophobia, and misogyny, which resonated deeply with millions of (mostly) white men in (mostly) Red States who shared the same hatred and were super stoked to be able to finally say all those terrible things in public instead of hiding them.
“MAGA” was suddenly everywhere, both online and on red hats, making it suddenly easy to identify a full political ideology without saying a word.
MAGA essentially created cyberharassment, swarming liberal accounts on social media with the kind of language that used to get people punched in the face if they’d said it to someone in a bar. It took me only a few tweets to Trump to attract their wrath, which only got worse once Trump blocked me in August 2015.
I might be one of the most blocked people on Twitter, having amassed a huge collection over the last 11 years that includes Trump’s main adult kids, RFK Jr. and others in the regime, as well as high-profile MAGA jerks. As an OG Twitter user who first joined in 2009, I remember when it was literally all fun and hashtag games. But the rise of MAGA changed the Twitter tone and created a darker mood, with everything coming to a head in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic kept us all inside and kept MAGA busy with conspiracy theories regarding both vaccines and potential election fraud.
If you weren’t on Twitter in the months between Trump losing the election to Joe Biden and the January 6th insurrection, consider yourself lucky. At the time, it was the most public display of violence that showed just how far gone the MAGA cult really was. As we watched the unimaginable play out on TV and livestreamed Twitter accounts, critics all across the political spectrum demanded accountability for Trump’s clear incitement of his base.
And so, Jack Dorsey banned Donald Trump from Twitter.
That’s my screenshot from the day. January 8th is also my older son’s birthday, and I sent it to him like a birthday card because he isn’t on Twitter.
People have forgotten that Dorsey banned Trump after his tweets incited the January 6th insurrection. It was a glorious moment for those of us who’d been enduring daily MAGA harassment, and even more so for those of us who’d had real-life experiences with MAGA that put us and our families in danger.
That ban remained in effect until Elon Musk took over the platform and gleefully reinstated Trump’s account. By that point, Trump had established his Truth Social app and, currently, all of his tweets are just videos posted by his wet nurse, Natalie Harp.
Once he took over Twitter, Musk manufactured millions of fake accounts, many of them with a blue checkmark to increase their visibility, all while he manipulated the algorithms to push pro-Trump tweets and suppress liberal accounts (like mine). MAGA “influencers” famously have the most fake accounts following them because they’ve paid for them. Yes, you can buy “packages” of fake followers to falsely boost your engagement and make it look like you’re a big deal so you can attract brand partnerships.
Or you can be an honest person, like I am, and have your account stall at 113K after 15 years of being on Twitter, when I should have millions like the morons who get paid by the White House to spread Russian propaganda.
At least I can spot a fake account in about 1.2 seconds these days, and therefore don’t waste my time engaging with them. The problem is that they’re programmed to trigger people into angrily responding, which usually brings in more fake accounts to swarm anyone who replies.
The biggest issue is that Musk has ruined the Twitter model and is using algorithms to manipulate the truth while spending a reported $366 million on the midterms. At the same time, the MAGAbots have brought down the collective IQ with their inability to ever discern which “their/they’re/there,” “your/you’re,” or “too/to” to use.
The inability to spell basic words is always a giveaway, as is their use of dumb Trumpy bullying language while using made-up MAGA words like “libturd” and “Dumocrats/Demorats” as insults.
Ooh, I’m so intimidated, Yuri.
Fake accounts or not, the MAGA messaging is very real. As I write this, they’re all whining about Trump cancelling the livestream of Nidal Hasan’s scheduled execution by firing squad.
Gina Milan is real. A couple of those accounts replying are also real. Yet, it won’t be long before more fake MAGA accounts are made to keep boosting these and other disgusting takes, because MAGA is a death cult led by a convicted felon who was Best Frenemies with Jeffrey Epstein for far too long.
I stay on Twitter because it’s my job to know what Republicans are posting, and because I don’t let Nazis (alleged or real) run me out of anywhere. Until Musk is forced to divest, it’ll be up to those of us who care about our democracy and the First Amendment to keep tabs and warn others about disinformation.
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