Thread by @conspirator0

We probably can't just drone the unsubstantiated claim (likely invented out of whole cloth by True Pundit) that Hillary Clinton once asked "can't we just drone this guy?" about Julian Assange. We can (and did) analyze the propagation of the claim, however.

cc @ZellaQuixote

We began by downloading all tweets containing either the phrase "can't we just drone this guy" or the words "Hillary", "drone", and "Assange", resulting in 15635 original tweets (173052 including retweets) from 11018 accounts. Where'd this story get its start?

While tweets speculating/insinuating that Clinton or someone acting on her behalf might order a drone strike on Assange start popping up sporadically earlier, @Thomas1774Paine of True Pundit was the first to claim she actually proposed it. Tweet volume spiked almost immediately.

Fake news site True Pundit is both the origin of the "can't we just drone this guy?" story and the main news site linked from related tweets, followed by RT. True Pundit cites anonymous sources, and subsequent reporting cites True Pundit - the claim has never been corroborated.

Which Twitter accounts' "can't we just drone this guy" tweets garnered the most retweets? @wikileaks leads the pack (much-vaunted reputation for accuracy nonwithstanding), with both True Pundit accounts, @RT_com, @PrisonPlanet, and at least one #QAnon account cracking the top 20.

Finally, a quick look at automation. 4760 of 15635 tweets (30.4%) were posted via automation tools, and 1397 of 11018 accounts (12.7%, responsible for 12.9% of tweets) are likely automated based on 24/7 activity or 90%+ of tweets being posted via automation apps/services.

Slight correction: label on the legend for the "other" category listed the incorrect number of accounts. This version is correct.