Inside the Troll Army Waging Trump’s Online Campaign
www.nytimes.com
A team of meme-makers has been flooding social media with pro-Trump posts riddled with sexist and racist tropes. Donald Trump is cheering them on.

Much of the group, which refers to itself as Trump’s Online War Machine, operates anonymously, adopting the cartoonish aesthetic and unrelenting cruelty of internet trolls.

Cheered on by Mr. Trump, the group traffics freely in misinformation, artificial intelligence and digital forgeries known as deepfakes. Its memes are riddled with racist stereotypes, demeaning tropes about L.G.B.T.Q. people and broad scatological humor.

  • @geekworking
    37•11 months ago

    So it’s probably Russia, or maybe NK, or another dictatorship or Fascist state who wants to destroy democracy. Or perhaps it’s just some straight-up traitors.

    • Deceptichum
      23•11 months ago

      Well at least one is a traitor

      The video’s co-creator — Bryan Heestand, a product engineer in Ohio who goes by the anonymous handle C3PMeme

      • squiblet
        29•11 months ago

        It’s been investigated and found to be true at various times by intelligence agencies and social media companies. Even worse would be to pretend that doesn’t happen.

        • @MindSkipperBro12
          11•11 months ago

          Russia definitely had a hand in trying to elect Trump but don’t discount the stupidity of the average American. They don’t need help to crap their own diapers.

        • @Ensign_CrabEnglish
          -10•11 months ago

          Sounds like something a Russian would say.

          In seriousness, if you deviate in the slightest from the party’s centrist orthodoxy or criticize their messaging in any way, the accusations of being a Trumpist and a Russian immediately start flying.

          Particularly if your criticism comes from the left.