Election denial conspiracy theories are exploding on X. This time they’re coming from the left

Although at the time of publication, the Associated Press poll count was actually 16 million votes lower than in the 2020 election, the explanation is simple: The entire vote has not yet been tabulated.

“No, 20 million votes is not missing,” David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Research and Innovation, wrote on X. Votes are still being counted in many states, including millions in CA alone. The 2024 vote count is very close to 2020, when all were reported “

PeakMetrics data shows that posts related to these conspiracy theories began gaining attention around 2 a.m. Eastern time, roughly coinciding with Trump’s election bid—but even though Americans have gone to bed, the number of posts has not decreased.

“By 8 a.m. ET, the number of posts per hour had increased to 31,991,” PeakMetrics wrote in an analysis shared with WIRED. “Perhaps surprising is the lack of posts overnight between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. ET — a time when posts typically decline as the US reaches bedtime. The steady increase in posts on Kamala’s recount/missing votes narrative over the past several hours may simply reflect the intensity of this discussion — or may indicate posting behavior automated or inauthentic posts.”

Unlike the 2020 election denial movement, inspired by Trump’s refusal to accept the results, these conspiracy theories have not received any support from the candidate. On Wednesday, Harris urged her supporters to accept the results and assured them that her team “will participate in a peaceful transition of power.”

The phenomenon of left-leaning or anti-Trump accounts posting conspiracy theories on social media platforms, known as BlueAnon, became prominent earlier this year following the Trump’s assassination in July.

“Any event that seems impossible will always generate conspiracy theories about what ‘really’ happened,” said Mike Rothschild, an author who writes about conspiracy theories and extremists. happen”. “In this case, it was a factually inaccurate story that there were tens of millions of missing votes and that Russian bomb threats sabotaged Harris’ campaign. This is also not true – voter turnout appears to be falling and many states, including California, are still calculating. And while bomb threats should never be accepted, that’s not the reason Harris’s campaign failed in every swing state. Writing off Trump’s victory as a conspiracy theory is not being realistic.”