Will conspiracy theories of fraud spread in the US presidential election?

The results of the US presidential election on November 3 are still unknown. Such delays were caused by a pandemic that left nearly 100 million voters voting by mail.

Nowadays intermediate results are more in favor of Democrat Joe Biden, but analysts and journalists stress: the outcome of the elections is certainly not clear.

Wisconsin Newsletters Not Found

When the Five Thirty Eight project is around 4 p.m. it announced in the morning that the number of voters for J. Biden had risen rapidly, conspiracy theories had spread on the media and social networks.

Conservative website thegatewaypundit.com wrote that Wisconsin was a fraud. In the bulletin a record was made that the votes for J. Biden were said to be “found.” Trump himself also attributed his “magically declining” leadership in key states on Twitter to fraud.

However, the change in results was predictable and easily explained.

“Me we did not find newsletters. The ballots are being counted, “said Julietta Henry, Milwaukee constituency director for PolitiFact National.

The change came at a time when the city of Milwaukee was announcing early voter results. Even before the election, it was known that Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to vote early, so it takes longer to count your votes. And Milwaukee is a Democratic stronghold, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Therefore, it was expected that the ballots received by mail would lead to an increase in votes for Biden when The Associated Press reported the results of the votes by mail at 3 pm 30 minutes. in the morning.

From 3 pm 26 min. until 3 pm 44 min. The Associated Press reported an additional 149,520 votes for Biden (9.2 percent of all votes for him) and 31,803 votes for Trump (2 percent of all votes for him).

Milwaukee County is primarily responsible for these changes, but not only for them.

The aforementioned votes were all announced at once, as Milwaukee and 38 other communities used the same central counting location. Other communities counted advance votes in constituencies and reported the results along with live voter results.

Soon after, the city of Green Bay, which had a common center for counting early votes, began announcing the votes.

In other words, writes the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, it’s not a scam, it’s just that election officials have stopped counting legitimate votes.

Virginia Biche Bulletins Not Burned

A video posted on social media claiming that President Trump’s bulletins are being burned is false, reports NBC News.

An unidentified person in the video places the ballot-like sheets in a plastic bag, wraps them in incendiary liquid, and ignites. And although the record does not indicate where that person is, judging by the other candidates on paper, it is Virginia Beach in the state of Virginia.

However, these are not actual bulletins but exemplary, Virginia Beach officials said. They noted that there is no barcode on the sheets of paper, unlike the official gazettes. It is true that officials are investigating the illegal incineration, reports wavy.com.

On Wednesday afternoon at US time, Trump’s son Eric Trump shared the following video on Twitter with the caption: “80 ballots are burning for Trump.”

The official Virginia Beach City account wrote: “These are sample newsletters. That was answered yesterday. “

Screenshot / Eric Trump complains of allegedly burning ballots

Expecting violence?

Harvard University researcher Joan Donovan told The Guardian that people who believe Trump’s comments about the stolen election will feel the need to act.

“Every time people feel disenfranchised, especially if the government does, we see widespread social unrest,” he said.

According to Donovan, if those who take to the streets do not have strong tactics, then violence seems an attractive way to send a message.

“Generally, it fuels the spirit of paramilitary organizations and activates people who support the Second Amendment and believe that the Democratic president will take away their weapons,” he said.

In anticipation of the election results, protests broke out in several US cities on Wednesday. Biden supporters in New York demanded that all votes be counted, and Trump supporters demanded that voting be suspended in Michigan and Arizona.

Feeling under intense pressure from mainstream media, researchers and civil society, the social media platform that has allowed Trump to break its rules for a long time has now adopted a more aggressive policy on its false election statements, The Guardian reported. .

Before the election, Twitter and Facebook began marking some of Trump’s records as incorrect information, and Fyzukuk applied this policy to the advance announcement of Trump’s victory.

Reuters / Photo by Scanpix / Joe Biden supporters in New York

According to Whitney Philips, a professor of communication at Syracuse University, disinformation is not a panacea. For some people, this is just another “censorship test.”

Alex Stamos of Stanford University believes that the lack of long-term penalties (suspending or blocking accounts) makes some want to break the rules again. “They seem happy to be punished. Now it’s his brand, “he told The Guardian.

And while Trump is pushing the idea of ​​a stolen election, and some of his supporters believe it, it is unclear whether this narrative will spread more widely.

“There are several important elements required to effectively misinform. First: cavalry online, ready. trolls. Numbers or proof are also needed to substantiate your claims. Third, the statements should be very simple, that way people will have something to share, “Donovan said.

And while many videos and photos appeared as “evidence” of fraud, all were denied by fact-checkers and were not broadcast by the Republican media.

And the “conservative media megaphone,” according to Donovan, is the fourth element necessary for effective disinformation.

According to her, if the Trox channel, which is loyal to Trump, does not support Trump ideologically and because of the evidence, then the president will have a tough fight over who will control the winner’s narrative.