#StopTheSteal: the fake news war in the Biden and Trump camps

The sentence seems surreal. Colliding in the race for the White House, Donald Trump has “falsely claimed to be the winner of the US election“, to quote CNN. And this even though millions of votes were still not counted. A statement that he accompanied with a serious accusation. For him, the Democratic camp is in the process of”want“the election. An attack that echoes the hashtag #StopTheSteal.

Literally “stop the flight“, he punctuated the election day with images, videos or testimonies, insinuating that Americans had not been able to freely exercise their right of citizenship. A phenomenon of such magnitude that on Twitter, these words had been mentioned more than 12,800 times this Tuesday noon (local time), according to the analysis company Signal Labs, cited by the New York Times. LCI has dissected five of the most viral publications.

Among the content that made the hashtag popular was a 33-second video. Viewed 2.7 million times, it is believed to show a “poll observer“from the Republican camp in Philadelphia. Sent by political parties, these agents are trained to spot and prevent election rigging. Except that here, two people seem to be blocking his access to the polling station. He is heard asking : “Won’t you let me in? (..) I have an observer certificate valid throughout the city“. The woman facing him retorts that he is”not for this place“. The individual disputes, assuring that his document allows to be mobilized”in every district and district of the city“. A sequence which was notably echoed by Mike Roman, director of election day operations for the Trump campaign.”Democratic agents ban Trump watchers in Philly. It happens all over the city“, he writes in capital letters, concluding with”theft is in progress!“.

The reality is more complicated than that. It is in fact a “an error of appreciation“from the people in charge of this polling station. The spokesperson for the Philadelphia police station explained to PolitiFact that the person in charge of running the polling station had judged that the neighborhood number on the observer’s certificate did not allowed to work on this site. It is in fact an old rule. Now those who have this certificate can go to all the districts of a city. The man in charge had a reminder of the rule. in the meantime, the principal concerned had finally gone to another site.good faith error“, which has not been repeated elsewhere.”This is the only mistake of this kind“, assured the spokesperson.

The pro-Trump do not have a monopoly on “fake news”. On Facebook, the pro-liberal “The Other 98%” page, followed by six million people, incorrectly said that supporters of the real estate mogul bullied voters in New Jersey. In the photo, a man holding a banner with the words “Trump 2020“indeed seems to block access to a ballot box.

The image is in fact taken out of context. The police in the city of Clifton, where the snapshot was taken, quickly reacted by posting, still on Facebook, a denial. They explain that the facts are simply “completely wrong“In fact, this index goes back two days.”This matter is under investigation, but does not appear to be related to any form of voter intimidationRarely enough to be noted, the page in question edited its post, acknowledging its error.

After Twitter and Facebook, it is on Instagram that this false information was disseminated. In one story, internet user Sebastian Machado introduces himself as a polling agent for Erie County, Pennsylvania. He writes: “I have already thrown away over a hundred ballots for Trump!“Information quickly refuted by county officials. In a statement, the president of the electoral council himself said he had looked into the matter. And assures us that”the person making these statements is not working with Erie County or participating in the electoral process“In fact, the individual is not even a registered voter in this territory and”is not considered a resident of Erie County“, specifies the same source.

The text, captured and widely disseminated, was notably shared by pro-Trump activist Mike Coudre. His post had been shared nearly 7,000 times. Before being deleted. Not by the user himself but by Twitter, who removed it around 3 p.m. local. A less viral version is still available on Facebook. The social network preferred to leave the content while warning that it is a “false information“.

While Twitter removes some false information, others remain online with a simple warning: “Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and may be misleading about how to participate in an election or other civic process“. This is the case for several tweets from President Donald Trump, especially in those where he claimed to have won the election. But also for that of one of the leaders of his campaign. He protests:”She literally stuffs the ballot boxes in Philly! “Below the caption, a video of a woman inserting what is described as multiple ballots into a letterbox.

Again the video is real but the caption is misleading. At first, the head of communication of the state prosecutor,

This tweet has been flagged by @Twitter bc 1) assisting voters who are infirm or otherwise unable to physically vote is lawful & 2) whatever those papers are, they're like 2x size of official mail-in ballots #ElectionDay pic.twitter.com/Tk9ipGrZL6

— Jane Roh 노진이 (@Jane_Roh) November 3, 2020

Finally, broken or out of use voting machines were reported in some polling stations. This is the case for example in Brooklyn, in the State of New York, or in

BREAKING: Elections workers are now claiming voter machines are down in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Worker says voters can fill out a ballot and they will scan it later when the machines are back up 🤔#Election2020 pic.twitter.com/p9xgsSukfI

— Mike Coudrey (@MichaelCoudrey) November 3, 2020

This was resolved at 8:11AM

— NYC Board of Elections (@BOENYC) November 3, 2020

While Internet users note this phenomenon when it takes place in Donald Trump’s strongholds, this problem is actually quite common in the country. No media outlet has found compelling evidence of a larger-scale problem that may have prevented voters from exercising their voting rights.

If the accusations of electoral fraud are impressive – especially when they come from a candidate – the words of Kristen Clarke, president of an association for the defense of civil rights, allow us to return to reason. Nearby New York Times, she notes that there is “no major systemic problems or attempts to obstruct voters’ votes. ” “The problems we have seen have been mostly isolated and sporadic.”

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