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In reply to the discussion: This is not a statement from the Franken plane "grope" photographer. [View all]Denzil_DC
(7,216 posts)7. Sandy Z may be confused or have the wrong idea because the bikini pic is posted several times.
People complain when we post links to Twitter if they can't see the posts for whatever reason, so I always add a text and viewable pic version (it also means if the tweet gets deleted, we have a record of it). There's no way I was going to be prissy enough to censor the version I added - it's a bikini pic, big deal.
A poster on Daily Kos reckons that "Aiden Benjamin" may be part of a Russian botnet (I'm skeptical of the tendency to blame everything on Russian disinformation nowadays, but disinformation from whatever source, or amplified by being retweeted/reposted by whoever, does us no favors) aiming to do exactly what you said ("to get liberals to look bad during breaking news events" ):
Heads up: Russians boosting Franken story per Hamilton 68 [Updated RE: Pro-Franken disinformation]
So it appears that Russian bots are pushing a particular narrative that Frankens photograph was staged:
[the first "Aiden Benjamin" tweet appears here - I won't repost it yet again]
The main tweet people are quoting comes from Aiden Benjamin whose twitter handle is @Feisal_Hagi. (Tweet Archived here: archive.is/...) Checking their twitter feed, they had no real political commentary until February, they just reblogged a bunch of random sports clips. So no comments during the election, the Womens March, etc. After that theres some poorly-written tweets about politics, none of which attract much attention. One of which calls for firing Colbert over something I dont remember. The account has slowly ramped up its political posts.
The avatar for this account appeared elsewhere online, and ultimately seems to have been taken from a VK (Russian Facebook) account:
http://archive.is/VbR8B
Several other Russian Language social media accounts also use this image.
The Make Adverbs Great Again networks rate Aidan Benjamin 7/10 as a Russian troll or bot. Anything about 6/10 is considered a match.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/16/1716247/-Heads-up-Russians-boosting-Franken-story-per-Hamilton-68
So it appears that Russian bots are pushing a particular narrative that Frankens photograph was staged:
[the first "Aiden Benjamin" tweet appears here - I won't repost it yet again]
The main tweet people are quoting comes from Aiden Benjamin whose twitter handle is @Feisal_Hagi. (Tweet Archived here: archive.is/...) Checking their twitter feed, they had no real political commentary until February, they just reblogged a bunch of random sports clips. So no comments during the election, the Womens March, etc. After that theres some poorly-written tweets about politics, none of which attract much attention. One of which calls for firing Colbert over something I dont remember. The account has slowly ramped up its political posts.
The avatar for this account appeared elsewhere online, and ultimately seems to have been taken from a VK (Russian Facebook) account:
http://archive.is/VbR8B
Several other Russian Language social media accounts also use this image.
The Make Adverbs Great Again networks rate Aidan Benjamin 7/10 as a Russian troll or bot. Anything about 6/10 is considered a match.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/16/1716247/-Heads-up-Russians-boosting-Franken-story-per-Hamilton-68
The Obama/Hurricane Harvey tweet "Benjamin" posted is also debunked on Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/obama-texas-during-hurricane-harvey/
Snopes says:
We asked him whether he knew the picture of Obama was not taken in 2017 when he posted it. He has yet to respond.
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This is not a statement from the Franken plane "grope" photographer. [View all]
Denzil_DC
Nov 2017
OP
Sandy Z may be confused or have the wrong idea because the bikini pic is posted several times.
Denzil_DC
Nov 2017
#7
I got called a RWer for suggesting believing everything on Twitter is madness. ;)
moriah
Nov 2017
#11
That he's "dubious" is likely. I used it. I apologize. Tweeden has accepted Franken's apology,
ancianita
Nov 2017
#13
I think Franken's statement and apology were quite disarming, along with his ethics inquiry call.
Denzil_DC
Nov 2017
#14
Agreed. People here smelled that a rat (Stone), and now Franken goes before ethics investigators.
ancianita
Nov 2017
#15
LOL. I went looking to see what sexual dirt (heaven help me) there might be on Stone
Denzil_DC
Nov 2017
#16