ASSANGE: Twitter bots boosting McCain attacks on FISA memo release, Trump

February 3, 2018

By Kyle Olson

U.S. Sen. John McCain gets a lot of love on social media, but it’s fake and intended to attack President Trump, according to Julian Assange.

The WikiLeaks founder noted on Twitter today that bots are supporting the Trump critic and darling of Democrats.

Twitter bots, disguised as Americans, attack FISA memo and Trump; promote warhawk McCain. pic.twitter.com/tqptnRQrXN

— Julian Assange ⌛ (@JulianAssange) February 3, 2018

Assange posted screen captures of several of examples of what he calls bot activity.

They show several accounts tweeting the same article, titled “John McCain just made a startling public accusation against Trump amid phony Nunes memo release,” at exactly the same time.

One Twitter user, @LoudaCristy, pointed to a suspicious-looking site called “LineJournal.org.”

That website published a pro-McCain article reporting on his criticism of Trump.

So did @milenbu and @DaryaBoyko4, as well as @petrina_liza.

“Despite his illness, McCain showed that he has one of the great minds in public life and remains a true American hero who stands up for his country first,” it reports.

“McCain did not do a very good job when he ran for president, but he continues to show that he has the intelligence, experience, and savvy that a good president needs, unlike Trump, who has turned out to be a partisan who cares more about himself than America,” it said later in the article.

Another bot tweeted a link to the very same article, but on DenverPole.com.

Both articles featured this ABC News tweet:

Sen. John McCain calls for Mueller probe to continue "unimpeded": "Our nation’s elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows." https://t.co/YayvPq0RKJ pic.twitter.com/RmYOGcAOlG

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 2, 2018

Both sites claimed the original source of the story was the Washington Press.