c/politics · by MicroWave@lemmy.world · 1y

Nancy Mace ran bot army, had staff run fake accounts to boost profile, report claims: ‘It’s what she does for fun’

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/nancy-mace-bot-army-congress-b2759622.html

South Carolina’s most outspoken member of Congress is reportedly putting her techie background to good use.

Mace, a third-term House member with reported ambitions to run for governor, directs staffers to run countless bot accounts and fake social media profiles on her behalf — all with the aim of boosting Mace’s content and messaging, according to a new report from Wired Wednesday that cited several unnamed former staffers and a consultant who publicly ended his contract with the congresswoman.

Wired’s reporting echoed the claim made by Donehue, who told a court: “She programs her own bots. She sets up Twitter burner accounts. This is the kind of a thing she does. She sits all night on the couch and programs bots, because she’s very, very computer savvy. She controls her own voter database, she programs a lot of her own website, she programs Facebook bots and Instagram bots and Twitter bots. It’s what she does for fun.”

169 points · 9 comments · view on lemmy.world

9 Comments

nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org · 39 pts · 1y

Mass fraud/propaganda campaigns for "fun". Was not surprised that she's a right-winger.

TachyonTele@lemm.ee · 37 pts · 1y (4 replies)

I always assumed a lot of them have been doing this for years.

IHeartBadCode@fedia.io · 15 pts · 1y

Exactly. That's the issue I keep trying to tell others about social media. It is insanely easy to run bot accounts with a very minimal amount of something like Python programming. And even if that's not your cup of tea, you can just literally have a half dozen people very easily log in and out of six fold the number of actual humans accounts.

Like for six people, running 60 to 80 fake account manually is a piece of cake and if they're really good and focused on task, that can easily be 150 to 200 accounts manually ran. Like running a bot army is incredibly easy for anyone.

This is why you have to take a lot of social media with a massive grain of salt. A lot of people are out there playing the algorithm, way more than I think people give credit for.

tischbier@feddit.org · 9 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Yeah same. Right? I feel like at least people on here bailed because we noticed manipulation like this.

Still—it’s nice to get confirmation. It’s still worthwhile.

TachyonTele@lemm.ee · 5 pts · 1y

That's true. It's good to have it acknowledged.

ryokimball@infosec.pub · 8 pts · 1y

I mean, I'm sure people are paying for this plenty. I think the story here is she is doing it herself (which is actually more fascinating).

ptz@dubvee.org · 18 pts · 1y (1 reply)

(This is faked in dev tools for a joke, BTW. Just making that clear lol).

TachyonTele@lemm.ee · 4 pts · 1y

I always knew that guy was a jerk!

xyzzy@lemm.ee · 14 pts · 1y

Nancy Mace fun facts:

She's been divorced twice.
She was engaged a third time, but that ended too.
She accused her ex-fiancée and three other men by name of rape and physical abuse on the floor of Congress. All the men have strongly denied the accusations, and her ex noted that she made her accusations solely on the floor of Congress, the only place where she can't be held legally liable for defamation. Another man sued her for defamation anyway.
She condemned Trump after Jan 6, then voted against impeachment, then endorsed for president the candidate who was found liable for sexual abuse, accused by his ex-wife of spousal rape and physical abuse, accused of attending underage sex parties, and in total accused by over 25 women of rape, sexual assault, and stalking.
She supports repealing the ACA.
She used to be a very strong supporter of LGBTQ rights, then "mysteriously" became super hostile to those exact same rights literally days after Trump was reelected, to the point of sponsoring anti-trans legislation and repeatedly using hate language on the floor of Congress.
She supported Liz Cheney and voted against her removal from Republican leadership, saying dissent should be protected. She appeared at fundraisers with her. Then she voted to remove her the next time the vote came up.
She supports sending US troops to forcefully remove Palestinians from Gaza and to take control of the territory.

In summary, Nancy Mace is a failure of a human being with no core values. She will betray any person or cause she has previously supported in her quest for more power. Her personal life is a disaster, and she's an active supporter of genocide.

RedditIsDeddit@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 1y

[ removed ]