The reality is that it always takes time for some states to count all the votes; when these rumors started ramping up, there were over ten million uncounted ballots in California alone. But, many people don’t know that this is how things always work. So, with emotions high in the aftermath of the election, disinformation purveyors are taking advantage of the opportunity to get well-intentioned people to help amplify conspiracy theories.
If you see allegations of “millions of missing votes” or voting machine fraud, please don’t amplify them! Instead:
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If it’s somebody you know, send them a private message letting them know that they’re unintentionally amplifying a false rumor.
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If it’s not somebody you know, report it to the moderators as disinformation.
Oh so when millions of accounts come out of nowhere to praise Orange Julius, call Kamala a genocider, and back Jill Stein those are real, but when someone with a credible web presence and years of posting history across various platforms claims their absentee ballot hasn’t been received* they’re a Russian troll? Get fucked.
Nah, I’m all for auditing the results, and ensuring no fuckery went down. But when I see a bunch of commenters come out of now where and say that their vote wasn’t yet counted, I get skeptical. Especially when that’s the exact thing the other side was saying 4 years ago.
Russias goal is to spark a civil war. They’ll come in and say whatever in favor of either side if they think it’ll increase the anger between them. Just be careful what you read.