Conspiracy theories, delayed Iowa election results and political opportunism intermingle online to create what disinformation researchers warn could be a harbinger of a self-inflicted worst-case scenario for the 2020 election.
But that came hours after the story began to spread. The Epoch Times post garnered 175,000 Facebook comments, likes and shares, according to the social media analysis tool Buzzsumo.
Donovan said while the specific intent of the disinformation — to disrupt the caucuses or sow larger distrust in the national viewing audience — may have been unclear, the goal of attaining mainstream media attention was met. Some Democrats also seized on another undocumented conspiracy theory, suggesting that Mayor Pete Buttigieg and his campaign had worked with the maker of the troubled Iowa caucuses app to tilt the results in his favor,Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a statement that the Iowa caucuses showed that the election system remains at risk.
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