CNN
—
Within the wake of the Tuesday mass capturing at an elementary college in Texas, Twitter customers went viral by making false claims about two of the state’s most distinguished politicians: Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz, each Republicans.
On Thursday, a Twitter account going by the deal with “My Most cancers Journey” posted a three-tweet tale that was shared tens of hundreds of instances by others on Twitter earlier than it was deleted.
The tweets presupposed to be written by somebody whose nephew was shot within the bloodbath at Robb Elementary Faculty. The tweets claimed that an Abbott consultant knocked on their door, shortly after they returned house from figuring out their nephew’s physique, and that this consultant “knowledgeable us he’s keen to pay us to face with the Gov and say we don’t want stronger gun legal guidelines.”
The tweets claimed that the governor’s consultant then threatened them with “fees and probably worse” in the event that they spoke concerning the dialog – then that the consultant even stated that “folks get harm and disappear on a regular basis.”
In whole, the three tweets have been retweeted or quote-tweeted greater than 67,000 instances and favored greater than 240,000 instances. Many of those shares have been from liberals against Abbott and Cruz. Whereas some questioned if the story was actual or not, others took it as genuine.
Information First: The viral story about Abbott is pretend. The “My Most cancers Journey” account deleted the three viral tweets on Friday, then the account was taken offline entirely. The person behind the account insisted in a short Friday cellphone interview with CNN that an unknown one that had one way or the other gained entry to the account had posted the tweets as a “hoax.” However the man refused to clarify a collection of previous tweets, from lengthy earlier than the Uvalde bloodbath, by which he made all kinds of different sensational and extremely doubtful claims about his life.
Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze stated in an electronic mail: “This didn’t occur and would by no means be allowed to occur.” She stated Abbott would by no means allow a staffer to point out up unannounced at a grieving household’s door within the first place.
Talking Friday in a distraught tone, the person behind the account claimed that he and an legal professional have been attempting to determine who was the true poster of the tweets. He additionally claimed that that they had reported the supposed account intrusion to “authorities” he didn’t determine.
Rachel Millman, the social media editor at New York publication Observer, did a lot of the analysis into the historical past of suspect claims from the “My Most cancers Journey” account. Numerous others on Twitter additionally raised questions concerning the account earlier than CNN reached the person on Friday.
One other Twitter consumer accused Cruz of getting tweeted the very same three sentences after 12 completely different mass shootings, altering solely the placement every time.
This tweet, from a consumer who goes by “chavito” on Twitter and rap stage identify Cali Kev, generated greater than 17,000 retweets and quote-tweets, plus greater than 43,000 likes.
“Chavito” wrote, “These mass shootings occur a lot that Ted Cruz actually bought a template able to tweet each time they happen” – including an expletive and calling the state of affairs “wild.”
The viral tweet featured a collage of 12 photos that confirmed Cruz supposedly tweeting the identical phrases time and again: “Heidi & I are fervently lifting up in prayer the youngsters and households within the horrific capturing in [location]. We’re in shut contact with native officers, however the exact particulars are nonetheless unfolding. Thanks to heroic legislation enforcement & first responders for appearing so swiftly.”
Information First: Eleven of the 12 supposed Cruz tweets within the viral collage are pretend. Cruz did tweet those three sentences after the mass capturing in Uvalde, however not after every other incident.
The person behind the “chavito” account didn’t reply to a request for remark. Cruz’s workplace confirmed that the senator tweeted this message in response to the Uvalde bloodbath however not in response to any others.
Another Twitter customers slammed Cruz for utilizing some comparable language, about prayer and legislation enforcement, in his tweets about some previous shootings. That’s honest recreation. However the allegation within the viral tweet was that he has used the identical three full sentences after 12 shootings, and that’s simply not true.