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From Brandy Zadrozny
After an anonymous Twitter account magnified a viral video of college students in Make America Great Again hats and a Native American elder, he There was an uproar on social media. Even some experts have subscribed to an emerging theory: the post was strangely similar to foreign misinformation campaigns during the 2016 elections.
But it seems that the @ 2020fight account was not managed by a foreign agent who was trying to stir up the political interests of America. Divisions, but rather a woman who described herself as a teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area and advocated liberal causes – and, apparently, did not expect to be in the center of the Bay Area. a firestorm in the media.
41,000 followers, was led by a woman who identified herself as "Talia" and used a fake profile photo, belonging to a Brazilian blogger and model. Talia tweeted the criticism of President Donald Trump and also used this account to sell educational materials.
Last Friday, @ 2020fight captured a one-minute video showing a crowd of students from Covington Catholic High School, coming from Kentucky to Washington for the March for Life, singing to Nathan Phillips, a former member of the Omaha tribe, beats his drum and sings, and adds a provocative caption: "This MAGA loser cheerfully disturbs a Native American protester during the March of Indigenous Peoples." The video quickly spread and was seen by millions of people, but was quickly criticized for lacking the full context of the meeting, which also involved several black Hebrew Israelites shouting insults to students.
Questions arose quickly about the story. Following a CNN survey on the fake profile picture, Twitter suspended Monday @ 2020fight for violating its fake account policy.
A Twitter spokesperson declined to give a more specific reason for the deletion of this account, but said: any attempt to manipulate the public conversation on Twitter using misleading account information constitutes a violation of the rules of Twitter.
This language evokes the misinformation campaign conducted by Russia to influence the election of 2016. The war information expert, Molly McKew, told CNN that the account @ 2020fight was part of a landscape "where bad actors are watching us and appropriate content that fits their needs." Senator Mark Warner, D-Va. Democratic top of the committee. Warner and the Democrat-controlled House Intelligence Committee have asked Twitter to review the account more thoroughly, according to a spokesman, reported by HuffPost.
But a source close to Twitter's internal investigation, which had required anonymity because it's all signs indicate that @ 2020fight is a US account.
False side photo, the @ 2020fight account seems to belong to a real person: a Californian teacher who went through "Talia" for multiple social discussions. accounts. The Twitter account bio, now removed, contained a link to a seller profile on the Teachers Pay Teachers website, an online store where teachers buy and sell lesson plans and resources. Talia describes herself as a "primary and middle school teacher in the Bay Area", and offered her more than 100 worksheets and lesson plans. It attracted a few dozen followers and buyers who gave it a favorable rating.
An associated Twitter account in which she promoted her Teachers Pay Teachers account, @teachinbay, was also suspended by Twitter. A spokesman for the platform declined to comment on the account, including when and why he was suspended.
On Wednesday afternoon, @ 2020fight deleted its Twitter account, apparently after Twitter lifted its suspension. (Suspended accounts can not be deleted.)
In May 2017, Talia appeared on the Teachers Pay Teachers private forum, viewed by NBC News. "I am a Grade 5 teacher [sic] from the Bay Area, where I am finishing my fourth year of teaching. Next year, I'm going to college, which is both exciting and scary, "she wrote.
The account Teaching in the Bay has deleted its Teachers Paying Teachers account following a NBC News message. The corresponding Pinterest and Instagram accounts are still online, but the account holder has not responded to requests for comment.
Parallel to the more popular political tweets criticizing Trump and pushing progressive causes like gun control, @ 2020fight used his account . to promote its professors by paying the products of professors. "Add some 70s talent to your life with these calendar cards. Perfect for the beginning of the year or school at home! She tweeted in April. She also asked about teaching.
"Is Grade 8 too young to plunge into Columbus history" not so good "? We are in this section of their textbook, "she tweeted in September 2017.
Talia was also on the list of" influencers "of Shoutcart, an online marketplace for influencers to sell ads or to sponsor them. content to brands. In this biography, she writes, "I have a very high engagement account with a popular culture / political profile. My audience is educated and in their twenties or thirties.
Talia posted on Twitter with an unusually high frequency, tweeting, retweeting or liking a post more than 200 times per day on average since the beginning of the account in December 2016. The account sent over 65,000 tweets in a little more than two years.
These figures suggest "inauthentic behavior," said Clint Watts, a former FBI special agent and MSNBC contributor who oversaw Russian electoral interference at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. "She could have bought followers to expand her reach, have some sort of automation behind her to keep her alive."
These are common tactics for influencers who use Twitter to generate profits, but also for bad actors.
"And then, boom," said Watts, "she tweets something controversial and is suddenly a source of misinformation in the United States."
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