WASHINGTON: Dozens of Facebook groups bill themselves as Kamala Harris fan pages but mount racist attacks, criticise her record on immigration and promote her rival Donald Trump, in what disinformation researchers call a "bait-and-switch" tactic aimed at deceiving voters in a tight US election race.
The Washington-based American Sunlight Project analysed over 300 groups on the Meta-owned platform that masquerade as pro-Harris pages while misleading the Democratic contender's supporters with abusive, hateful posts or capitalise on her popularity to promote merchandise.
The proliferation of such Facebook groups, which typically bring together communities with shared interests, does not appear to be an organised effort and illustrates a sophisticated tactic to seed false election narratives in trusted online spaces.
"These are usually places where there is a high level of trust between members, making them more likely to believe what is being shared there, whether that is election disinformation, miracle cures or memes," Nina Jankowicz, ASP's co-founder and chief executive, told AFP.
The "bait-and-switch" tactic appears to target actors across the political spectrum, including Trump.
But Jankowicz, the former Department of Homeland Security disinformation chief, said her research outfit noticed an "explosion" of such groups focused on Harris since she entered the presidential race over the summer.
One group purports to be a space for "Kamala Harris fans", with its "about" section hailing her as a "trailblazer, a symbol of diversity, and a champion for justice and equality".
But inside the group, posts seek to undermine Harris, including one with a photo of a brown woman smearing her face with black paint alongside the caption: "Kamala getting ready to talk to black people."
The post echoed Trump's false claim that Harris "turned black" and that she was exploiting her race to woo African-American voters.
Harris is the first black, South Asian and woman vice president in US history.
SEXIST MEMES
Another group that calls itself "Democratic voices for President Kamala Harris 2024" posted messages in support of "Make America Great Again" - the political movement and slogan popularised by Trump.
One video posted in the group showed Charlie Kirk - a conservative influencer whose political organisation is focused on getting Trump reelected - promoting the Republican's anti-immigrant rhetoric.
A similar group savaged Harris as a "border czar" who has failed to curb undocumented migration into the United States - an attack line constantly repeated by Trump and his supporters.
One other group calling itself "Kamala Harris 2024" posted a sexist meme mocking the preference of some voters for a "female president" in the face of what it depicted as pressing issues confronting the country.
Many of the "Harris" groups analysed by ASP were run by lone actors, including some non-US moderators in Africa or Eastern Europe.
Some groups posted about topics unrelated to the vice president, including religious cult-like content, and were hotbeds for spam and merchandise sales. Many were not started from scratch, having changed their names several times to capitalise on trending issues to gain traction, ASP said.
"COMPLEX DECEPTION"
In a statement to AFP, a Meta spokesman said: "Protecting the election on our platforms is one of our top priorities, and we continue to enforce our policies when we find violating content or behavior."
Meta has previously extolled Facebook groups in commercials for their power to bring people together.
The so-called bait-and-switch strategy appears to violate Meta's policies regarding inauthentic behavior or "complex deception", which among other things forbids the use of its platforms to deceive users about the purpose of content.
ASP said the groups it analysed were a representative sample and it was unable to get a fulsome picture of the scale of the abuse after Meta in August shut down CrowdTangle - a digital tool researchers hailed as vital in monitoring falsehoods.
Meta has replaced it with a Content Library, a technology that has similar functionality but is still under development.
ASP shared samples of a handful of similar "bait-and-switch" groups dedicated to Trump.
"This phenomenon isn't unique to Harris - groups are used and abused this way across the political spectrum and across topics," Jankowicz said.
"As we get closer to Election Day and during what is likely to be a tumultuous transition period to follow, it's important that people slow down and try to be more deliberate when consuming content online," she added.
AFP
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Democrats start to point fingers even as they hope for Harris win
Vice President Harris could win the presidential election next week. But fingers in Democratic circles are already being pointed behind the scenes, in the event that she falls to former President Trump.
While some Democrats say they are increasingly hopeful that Harris will win, others have expressed mounting frustration about a string of factors that have plagued the campaign from the outset.
Fingers are being pointed at Harris and her campaign when it comes to disappointment over her messaging, particularly on the economy.
But some Democrats have already looked to pin the blame on President Biden, who some think took too long to step aside.
“People are nervous and they’re trying to cover their ass and get a little ahead of Election Day,” one Democratic strategist said of the sniping. “It’s based on anxiety, stakes and the unique nature of this cycle.
“We didn’t have a traditional process for this election. We didn’t have a primary. People just had to fall in line,” the strategist added, saying “it’s not surprising to me” that some of the blame game is happening even before Election Day.
If Harris loses, “there will be a mad dash to assign blame,” the strategist added.
The vice president’s decision to pick Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her running mate over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) surely will be second-guessed if Trump wins the Keystone State.
“[Harris] is going to look real silly for not picking Shapiro,” one former aide in the Obama White House said.
A Democratic donor agreed: “I’m not sure Walz got her anything. A lot of people I’m talking to say he seems like a great guy. Would I want to have a beer with him? Absolutely. But let’s face it, he wasn’t a great choice.”
Biden put himself squarely in the news cycle on Tuesday evening when he appeared to liken Trump supporters to garbage.
The president walked back the remarks, and the White House insisted they had been taken out of context. Either way, they stepped on a largely successful speech by Harris on the Ellipse in Washington. The speech, which Harris delivered with the White House as a backdrop, was a pivotal moment in the final stretch of the campaign because it represented her closing argument for herself and against Trump.
It is nearly impossible to believe the comments did not greatly irritate the Harris campaign, though the vice president said the issue did not come up when she spoke to Biden on Tuesday night.
“Talk about an unforced error and so close to the end,” one strategist said. “How could anyone not be annoyed by that?”
On Wednesday, Harris was still cleaning up Biden’s comments.
“First of all, he clarified his comments, but let me be clear. I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” Harris told reporters as she departed for a three-state campaign swing.
Harris has kept Biden at a distance during the final stretch of the campaign, even as she has appeared alongside surrogates, including former President Obama. The move has irked Biden loyalists who say the president had a successful administration and should be out there — however awkward — to help campaign for his vice president.
“He should be out there,” one loyalist said. “The reason she’s where she is, is because of him.”
But even before Biden’s “garbage” comment, there were whispers he would be responsible for a Harris defeat.
These voices say Biden’s withdrawal from the race in late July didn’t do Harris any favors since she hasn’t had enough time to properly telegraph her biography.
Others said he never should have run for reelection, and that he should have allowed the party to have a full primary to pick his successor.
The unusual part about the quiet finger pointing going on is that Harris could very well be elected the next president next week.
She leads in most national polls and continues to lead in various polls of key swing states. New CNN polling released Wednesday found Harris with a 6-point lead in Wisconsin and a 5-point lead in Michigan. The new polling found the two candidates tied in Pennsylvania.
If Harris wins all three states, she will almost certainly win the election.
“Harris is closing strong with big energy moments and rising momentum,” Democratic strategist Joel Payne said. “She’s the more popular candidate, she has a broader coalition and she’s got a higher ceiling than Trump.
“Democratic anxiety is understandable because of the threat of a Trump second term, but there’s a lot to feel good about related to Kamala Harris and Democrats up and down the ballot coming down the stretch,” Payne added.
At the same time, the race is incredibly close, meaning either candidate has a strong chance of winning and neither side can feel all that certain.
That creates nervousness and paranoia, a perfect atmosphere for second-guessing and backbiting.
There will be second-guessing if Trump loses, too.
The former president has doubled down on caustic speech in a bid to bolster his support among men, which could lose him critical female voters — where Harris enjoys a large lead. If Harris wins, Republicans will second-guess their decision to ride with Trump through a third presidential cycle. They’ll also wonder why he had to hold that rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, where a comedian’s off-color jokes about Latinos and Puerto Rico won negative attention.
“It’s a terrible look for the campaign,” one Republican strategist said. “He should stick to the message and only the message. If we go off of it, he’ll lose.”
Thehill
Source: AFP/ec/Thehill
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