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   Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Oct-2024 03:42:12 JST Nonilex

   #Viral attack on #TimWalz features #fake fmr student making false claim
   
A Hawaii man who attended a school where #Walz taught — but says they never met — was dismayed to see person in a video using his name to make a false allegation against the VP candidate

   #FactCheck #RepublicanLies #Fraud #SocialMedia #moderation #disinformation #ConspiracyTheories #ElectionInterference #Trumpaganda #Propaganda #MatthewMetro #VoteBlue #HarrisWalz2024
   https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/10/21/tim-walz-matthew-metro-video/

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     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Oct-2024 03:42:41 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     Msgs left for the operator/operators of those accts received no response.
     
The #X acct’s post w/the video was viewed >5.4M times in the next 22 hrs…before it was deleted. The video was shared by other accts w/significant readerships….

     Many #Trump supporters…promoted the post as a bombshell revelation about the conduct of #KamalaHarris’s running mate toward students when he was a teacher,… credible because there was seemingly a named accuser who had attended a school where #TimWalz taught.

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Oct-2024 03:42:42 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     A spox for #HarrisWalz campaign confirmed the outreach.
     
#X did not respond to emailed questions…
     
The earliest instance of the video that WaPo could find online was published just after noon on Wed by an X account using Metro’s name as its user & display names. Metro told WaPo he had no connection w/the account; user & display names can be changed at any time. The account was created in Oct 2023. Other than posts critical of #Walz, which began last week, it has mostly shared content about dogs.

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Oct-2024 03:42:42 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     The video containing the false allegation against #Walz attracted little attention until several hrs after it was posted, when it was repackaged & shared by an anonymously operated #X acct associated w/the #QAnon #ConspiracyTheory. The video was also shared on #Rumble, #TruthSocial & #Gettr — all popular platforms among #Trump supporters — by accounts that, acc/to info in their bios, are linked in a network that also includes the X acct.

     #SocialMedia #moderation #disinformation #HarrisWalz2024

     Bill repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Oct-2024 03:42:43 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     For some viewers, the use of Metro’s name & verifiable biographical details created an aura of credibility around the false allegations. Not so for the real Metro, whom WaPo located in Hilo, Hawaii.
     
“It’s obviously not me: The teeth are different, the hair is different, the eyes are different, the nose is different,” said Metro, 45, who has not previously spoken publicly. “I don’t know where they’re getting this from.” Metro showed WaPo his Hawaii driver’s license to confirm his identity.

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Oct-2024 03:42:43 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     Metro told WaPo that #Walz never taught him. He said he was irate that his name & bio were being used to bolster a lurid false accusation — & that he may be forever associated w/it online. “It’s an invasion of my #privacy & my personal life,” he said.
     
The 4-min video, published by a mysterious #X account falsely using Metro’s name, is one of numerous outlandish smears against #TimWalz …that have flown around #SocialMedia in …the final weeks of the presidential campaign.

     #HarrisWalz2024

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Oct-2024 03:42:43 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     While #X *eventually* added labels beneath the video indicating the #content had been #manipulated, multiple versions of the clip remain online. In all, posts featuring the video garnered at least 5M views….

     In a political environment awash w/ false claims, including sophisticated #faked videos of prominent figures, the hoax was unusual in that it appeared to draw on open-source research to crudely steal the identity of someone who had a tenuous historical connection to a candidate….

     #fraud

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Oct-2024 03:42:43 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     Moreover, the fmr student appeared to have been selected because personal details about his real life — among them, his #SexualOrientation — figured into the fabricated claim & could be seen as corroborating it.

     Metro said he was contacted after the video’s publication by a snr aide to #TimWalz. Acc/to Metro, the aide said Walz’s team was investigating & already knew he was not the person featured in the video.

     #FactCheck #RepublicanLies #SocialMedia #moderation #disinformation #HarrisWalz2024

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Oct-2024 03:42:44 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     #MatthewMetro didn’t recognize the face that popped up on his cellphone screen when he clicked a link that a friend texted him last week. But after hitting play on the #online #video, he was dismayed by what he saw.

     “My name is Matthew Metro,” said the man in the video, who went on to describe life as a student decades ago at a HS in Minnesota where Democratic VP nom #TimWalz was a teacher.

     #FactCheck #Lies #Fraud #SocialMedia #moderation #disinformation #Propaganda #VoteBlue #HarrisWalz2024

   • Embed this notice
     Nonilex (nonilex@masto.ai)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Oct-2024 03:42:44 JST Nonilex

     in reply to

     Some of the details — including about being at the school when #Walz worked there — matched the biography of the real Metro. But the man in the video went further, leveling fabricated allegations against Walz, who the real Metro said he never met.

     Millions of people have viewed #SocialMedia posts containing the video since it was published Wed on #X / #Twitter.

     #FactCheck #RepublicanLies #Fraud #moderation #disinformation #ConspiracyTheories #Trumpaganda #Propaganda #VoteBlue #HarrisWalz2024