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A Twitter user who went by the name "Ultra MAGA BELLA Hot Babe" has been revealed to have been part of a China-based plot to stoke division in American politics ahead of next week's midterm elections.
The user had 26,000 followers with more than 400,000 likes and 180,000 retweets and had previously shared content claiming that former Democratic President Barack Obama was a “lizard person who is a member of the Illuminati.”
The account, which has since been suspended, also shared memes promoting conspiracies about the 2020 general election and hateful rhetoric aimed at transgender people, such as a claim that children with gender dysphoria are being abused by their parents.
\u201cThe Ultra MAGA Hot Babe who tweeted that Obama was an Illuminati lizard to her 26,000 followers was actually a Chinese operative https://t.co/tz5pQJlkBP\u201d— Drew Harwell (@Drew Harwell) 1667309011
The reveal was part of an effort by Twitter that uncovered three China-based operatives pretending to be influencers in American politics. Twitter uncovered the plot just as billionaire Elon Musk—who has railed against Twitter's content moderation policies—acquired the company.
According to The Washington Post, which broke the story, the cache of data released by Twitter unveiled 2,000 users who spread lies about election tampering, attacked members of the transgender community, and promoted pro-China narratives to their American audience.
The report adds:
"The disclosure by Twitter adds to what is known about China-based efforts to influence American audiences by mimicking the strategies Russia-based operatives used to stoke cultural and political tensions during the 2016 election."
"In September, Meta announced it had disrupted a China-based operation seeking to influence U.S. politics."
"The U.S. government also has issued warnings about Chinese influence efforts, as have a spate of reports from cybersecurity firms including Google’s Mandiant, Recorded Future and Alethea Group."
The news did not surprise many who have continued to criticize ongoing disinformation efforts by foreign governments.
\u201cYou\u2019ll be shocked to find out that Ultra MAGA BELLA Hot Babe wasn\u2019t a real person despite her tweeting about \u201cMULE TAKING PICS! PROOF OF CRIME REQUIRED TO GET PAID BY THE DNC.\u201d https://t.co/vNkw4v2Z6N\u201d— Molly Jong-Fast (@Molly Jong-Fast) 1667355060
\u201cThe job of a disinformation agent targeting the United States seems a lot like working in advertising in the 1950s. You can say cigarettes are healthy and people will smoke it up. Very vibes-based and lucrative.\u201d— steven monacelli (@steven monacelli) 1667364684
\u201cWe were just talking about social media disinformation and election interference in class today. This is troubling but not exactly shocking.\nhttps://t.co/ORCm1AkGOQ\u201d— T. Kenny Fountain (@T. Kenny Fountain) 1667336777
\u201cWow, \nIt turns out popular MAGA account @SimplyBellaH aka "Ultra MAGA Bella Hot Babe" with 26.000 followers was a Chinese operative, gullible magas fell for it, bait, line and sinker. \n\nThe account is now suspended. \nhttps://t.co/A8iT9lAV2V\u201d— Jan Fredriksson \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddea \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\udf3b \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 (@Jan Fredriksson \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddea \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\udf3b \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6) 1667334580
\u201cDisturbing how other countries - in this case China - efforts to stoke division in America make pretty insulting assumptions about Americans, and are then proven right. https://t.co/h224Jelgxi\u201d— Don Moynihan (@Don Moynihan) 1667362813
\u201cI have reported young twit accounts that tweeted thousands of times. I knew this was happening and it was obvious the twitsphere was polluted, dominated by a minority, and hacked by foreign adversaries. It still feels like too little, too late, but optimistic 4change. @Twitter\u201d— Erin G (@Erin G) 1667346545
\u201cAs crazy as this headlines sounds, it\u2019s not at all surprising.\u201d— NFL Philosophy (@NFL Philosophy) 1667351496
\u201cThe problems with Twitter under Musk are bad. But they\u2019re far from the only problems \u2014 disinformation and division were widespread even before Musk/Saudi/Ellison purchase.\n\nHere a foreign operative was in May spreading division on Twitter to harm America. It\u2019s bad.\u201d— Eric Blair\ud83d\udd25 (@Eric Blair\ud83d\udd25) 1667355759
\u201cI'm beginning to think that unfettered "free speech" on social media platforms might not be such a great idea: \nhttps://t.co/sZYCwJOpsZ\u201d— Danny \ud83c\udf0a \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Danny \ud83c\udf0a \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1667325320
The Washington Post's report goes on to note that Twitter "also took down three networks that were based in Iran but often claimed to be based in the United States or Israel" and that at least one of these accounts "endorsed candidates even in local races."
Despite dismantling three disinformation networks altogether, Twitter has not "attributed the activity to any specific governments." Twitter discovered "technical signals" that indicated many of these accounts were based in China despite purporting to be based within the United States.