This now-suspended fake account was pushed as real by multiple people, including Curt Schilling (who has a history of pushing hoaxes), Carpe Donktum, David Wohl, & The Donald subreddit.
It was also pushed as real by a member of the Trump campaign group "Women for Trump" and by a California Republican congressional candidate.
They have since deleted their tweets, but it appears that a Breitbart reporter & Turning Point USA advisory council member Joel Fischer (who also has a history of falling for falsities:
As noted by @3r1nG, the fake account played a large role in the Twitter discussion of "antifa" related to the far-right Portland rally this past weekend.
These videos include falsely claiming that FEMA disaster aid went to undocumented immigrants, baselessly alleging there was some secret plot to “grab” land to obtain resources, & suggesting that the hurricane was evidence of some kind of weather manipulation.
YouTube has also seemingly profited from some of these videos. Multiple videos were monetized with preroll ads and/or have received donations via the “Super Chat” feature.
The leader of this militia group & who announced its formation is Jake Lang, a podcaster & alleged January 6 participant who is currently in jail awaiting trial for his actions that day.
Those also allegedly involved with the militia include QAnon supporter Ann Vandersteel, white nationalist podcaster Stew Peters, far-right podcast host Pete Santilli, January 6 participant Couy Griffin, & Silk (of Diamond & Silk fame).
4chan users for weeks have been using Microsoft Bing’s AI tool to generate images with Nazi imagery and other “propaganda,” potentially creating thousands of AI images. mediamatters.org/4chan/4chan-us…
Numerous threads promoting Bing’s AI tool have appeared on 4chan’s far-right “politically incorrect” message board (known as “/pol/“) since the tool launched in late September, urging fellow users to create “propaganda” with the tool.
In response, users in those threads have shared numerous apparent AI-generated images they seemingly created, which often promote Nazi imagery and other far-right content such as Pepe the Frog. Many images have even included Taylor Swift.
A troll account & its deceptive tweet based on a racist 4chan meme that aimed to spread anti-trans sentiment following the Nashville mass shooting was shared on social media & by right-wing figures & outlets, including Fox’s Tucker Carlson. mediamatters.org/4chan/4chan-an…
Following the shooting, a troll account posted this deceptive tweet & used an image of a trans MMA fighter, which is actually from a 2020 article (which she called the account out for doing.)
In reality, that Twitter account's handle & its tweet were from a racist 4chan meme. The tweet's wording basically copied the meme & simply replaced a racial slur with another word. knowyourmeme.com/memes/tnd-kill…
A QAnon influencer who was reinstated on Twitter under Elon Musk caused a baseless conspiracy theory linking Huggies diapers & pedophilia to gain traction online, forcing the diaper company to publicly rebut it. mediamatters.org/twitter/elon-m…
The QAnon influencer had been banned as part of Twitter's QAnon crackdown after January 6. Under Musk, the account was reinstated in January & is now verified under Twitter Blue.
The false tweet earned tens of thousands of retweets and likes, and Twitter’s view count listed the tweet as having millions of views. It then spread elsewhere online, including getting nearly 1 million combined views on TikTok.
As 2022 comes to an end, there was some reporting I did this year that I was particularly proud of:
I wrote a multi-part series, "Beyond Q," on QAnon's evolution since 2020 & Trump leaving office. I think it's already held up well, & its broader points on how QAnon has gone on despite "Q" posting less has seemingly become more common in media coverage. mediamatters.org/qanon-conspira…
While that series was ongoing I also reported specifically about the QAnon community's turn to local politics & school boards, including some previously unreported stories showing that development. mediamatters.org/qanon-conspira…