Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez using a sock puppet account to harrass people and spout hateful views on Twitter? That’s the extraordinary claim that’s surfaced in recent days, following some unusual interactions around Ocasio-Cortez’s “official” Twitter account.
First off, to define terms, “sock puppet” account refers to people setting up multiple social media accounts, under different names. Now, this isn’t entirely unusual. I myself, for instance, have different social media accounts, for personal use, and for each of my pen names. Many writers do the same, in order to “silo” the different areas of their work. This is really just an extension of using pen-names in the first place.
But “sock puppets” are distinguished from run-of-the-mill multiple accounts by the purpose they’re used for. Sock puppets are used to masquerade as different people for the sole purpose of amplifying the voice of the person behind them all. They’re also used to anonymously attack and organise orchestrated pile-ons of their targets.
For instance, by their own admissions, activists “Sleeping Giants” run dozens of sock puppet accounts each. When they want to try and influence, say, a corporation to stop advertising on a particular platform, or to drop certain sponsorships, they use their sock puppet accounts to bombard their target with a flood of complaints, all apparently coming from hundreds of “outraged citizens”. But, it’s really just a tiny group of activists, manipulating the system to bully others.
Sock puppets are also used by people to say things they would otherwise not want to be exposed as saying. Which is where the closely-related “burner accounts” come in. Like the “burner phones” used by drug dealers and other criminals, they’re more-or-less disposable accounts, which are usually used to spout extremist rhetoric, and attack other people. If the account is shut down, they simply create a new one, and carry on.
Obviously, people with “name” recognition, like celebrities, don’t want to have to keep creating new accounts and building up new rosters of followers. So, if they really want to get extreme, create a burner sock puppet. Then another one. And another.
And that’s where the allegations about AOC come in.
Does AOC have a sock puppet burner account that she used to say things she couldn’t get away with saying on her own account?
The evidence for the allegation is tantalising, but admittedly thin.
One of the hardest thing about running multiple accounts is remembering what you’re saying on which. AOC is accused of having slipped up on this one.
Well if she did, she doesn’t anymore, because after an errant first person reply the account got nuked. But not before screenshots galore.
But you be the judge, I can’t say whether this is definitely the case or not. Only that it definitely looks possible that’s what happened.
Right Scoop
When Twitter user @realnikohouse commented on AOC’s “official” profile, some apparently completely random person named “zazasmoka” (“cannabis smoker”) answered — in the first person: “I”. As if they were AOC.
Which, it’s argued, they were.
Within minutes of the alleged slip, the “zazasmoka” blocked @realnikohouse. Over the next few hours, “zazasmoka” deleted thousands of tweets. Then the account was deleted entirely.
Notably, too, before it was deleted, Twitter’s algorithm linked the account to AOC’s official account.
It’s possible, as some argued, that “zazasmoka”, who was part of the thread, thought that @realnikohouse was replying to them, although, given the nature of the comment replied to, that seems unlikely. To a tweet from AOC, showing a video of her in a confrontation with Chaya Raichik of “LibsofTikTok”, @realnikohouse commented, “But you vote to send money to Nazis… But hey, at least you stood up to a TikTok star.” Within two minutes, “zazasmoka” replied, “Lol and what makes you think that i did anything to support nazis?” (emphasis added).
If nothing else, it sure looks like the actions of someone who got caught out using a sock puppet burner account.
Why does this even matter?
Well, for a start, AOC isn’t just any old Twitter user, she’s a congresswoman. More importantly, before the “zazasmoka” tweets were deleted, many were captured. Others can be found on the Wayback Machine. They expose a torrent of nastiness most unbecoming of an elected representative. These included calling Chaya Raichik of “LibsofTikTok” a “worthless cunt”, and Liking pornographic tweets.