Mystery group paid influencers tens of thousands to push sexual smears about Harris

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 517 points – Mystery group paid influencers tens of thousands to push sexual smears about Harris
independent.co.uk

Around the time Kamala Harris was taking over the reins of the Democratic presidential ticket, a mysterious group reportedly began a smear campaign against her, paying social media influencers tens of thousands of dollars to promote posts, according to reports.

In late July, a network of influencers who had been recruited to push conservative messages about Donald Trump or President Joe Biden throughout the summer, received an email requesting they make colorful sexual insults about Harris, according to Semafor.

In return, they would be paid tens of thousands of dollars via Zelle, a digital payments network.

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"mystery group"

Oh yeah, a real head scratcher.

The Russophobia on this site is simply disgusting.

It’s one of the most powerful and free countries in the known universe and Lemmy should have more respect.

Most powerful most free! Surely you can see how stupid you sound.

I don’t sound stupid.

If I am an American and I say that the US is the best country ever I would sound stupid. So yes, you sound stupid.

I said it’s one of the most powerful and free…

the military was shit on by a random farming country in the eastern european region, with literal fucking tractors.

they're also know for randomly arresting people for political reasons.

Did you miss this recent news?

Justice Department Disrupts Covert Russian Government-Sponsored Foreign Malign Influence Operation Targeting Audiences in the United States and Elsewhere

Influence Operation Relied on Influencers, AI-Generated Content, Paid Social Media Advertisements, and Social Media Accounts to Drive Internet Traffic to Cybersquatted and Other Domains

e: or was that /s? Poe’s law broke my sarcasm detector years ago

im russophobic, not slavophobic. There's a difference, thank you very much...

/s for shitpost obviously.

maybe if their leader(s) hadn't spent 20+ years attempting to subvert global democracy and sow seeds of radical, racist violence across the internet we'd feel a touch different...

Oh my god who could it be I have literally no idea

Trump is literally a rapist. What could she have possibly done that could compare in the slightest?

She was born a woman. That's enough in the eyes of fascists.

And born black. And a Muslim a Hindoo an Indian brown.

I thought she decided to turn black later...?

to be fair they still hate you if you transition to a woman as well.

They actually hate you more. I think it's because a person who has transitioned from being a man to a woman has discarded the only thing they value.

Unfortunately this bullshit puritan society still doesn't like women having any sort of sex. Whereas Repubs actually prefer rapists like Donald or Justices Boofer and Corrupt Clarence.

Russia. It's Russia.

Hey! It could totally be some other nation state that has strong, documented ties to the party running against Harris!

/s

It could be a fat Chinese guy in his basement.

You mean with the cyber? Yeah probably. Of course the cyber is very big.

I don't know why I didn't realize before today that it could have been Barron Trump!

There must be dozens! At least eight! No doubt five other nations are doing it, and when we catch both of them, boy howdy won't that country be upset!

she could be a coke snorting hooker with her own line of designer buttplugs, and i'd still vote for her over trump

I want to live in the world where it's not wrong for a campaign to sell buttplugs. What a great world that would be, where sexuality isn't some evil presence to be hidden away. If that ever happens, that candidate probably has my vote.

The Internet used to be a common resource and information system.

Now it is a propaganda warzone.

Well, yes. But only because it's cheap as dirt and massively effective.

Influencers are trash people

"Hucksters"

Demagogue is the old word for influencer, people that prey on emotions and prejudices to manipulate people to agree with them politically.

Require them to be licensed, registered, and have a tax ID. Bet that'd sort out 80% of them.

I think it's hilarious that the lede makes it appear that this story was broken by George Santos, who lies about literally everything.

Such a mystery... No way the Kremlin could be responsible, right?

I don't get why they don't attack her on her policies (like supporting Israel's genocide), not on superficial bullshit

Perhaps it’s because a) it works, and b) they know republican policy is less popular. They could lie about policy (well, more than they already have), but I think they’re going to save that for after the first debate, personally.

You mean like they could try to get leftists to vote for Jill Stein or write in Che Gueverra instead? I think they already do that, but not through right wing influencers, if you know what I mean.

Because most Americans support it.

I would guess that most Americans have zero opinion on it at all. Money supports it.

They already attack her for not supporting Israel's genocide enough.

If you think Republicans are going to do anything to stop Israel from wiping every single Palestinian off the face of the earth, you're an idiot.