Twitter Takes Down Neo-Nazi Account Trying To Trick Black Voters To Vote At Home

Robert McNees, a physics professor at Loyola University, was curiously scanning through the popular alt-right account @TheRickyVaughn when he came across a number of tweets apparently designed to spread misinformation about voting among African-American and Spanish-speaking citizens. The tweets told voters they could “avoid the line” and “vote from home” via text (which, to be clear, they can’t). They were photoshopped to look as if they’d been created by the Clinton campaign, down to the small-print “Paid for by Hillary for President 2016” disclaimer at the bottom.

McNees told BuzzFeed News he reported the tweet — a clear attempt to impersonate a campaign and disenfranchise voters.

The photoshopped campaign ads may violate FEC laws. They also appear to be in direct violation of Twitter’s policies, which state in part that “Twitter accounts portraying another person in a confusing or deceptive manner may be permanently suspended.” The tweets could also be in violation of Twitter’s spam rules.

After BuzzFeed News emailed Twitter for comment, @TheRickyVaughn’s offending tweets appear to have been taken down. Later, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responded to BuzzFeed News via Twitter:

@cwarzel not sure how this slipped past us, but now it's fixed — 🚶🏽jack (@jack) Cont.

Story from - BuzzFeed
Photo from - Twitter