“Texas GOP’s voting meme shows how Trump-style messaging wins internet’s attention” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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A Twitter meme posted on Friday by the Republican Party of Texas that compared waiting in line for COVID-19 tests to waiting in line to vote quickly provoked anger from the left, giddiness from the right, and rose to one of the top trending posts on the platform that day.
In other words, experts on propaganda and internet misinformation said, the meme did exactly what it was intended to do.
“The goal is to further divide people, but divide them by making them feel they’re part of a group,” said Sam Woolley, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin who also serves as the project director for propaganda research at the Center for Media Engagement.
He added that such an approach is “driven by a perspective that other people who don’t believe what you believe are the enemy, rather than fellow Americans.”
The meme, which came from the official account for the Texas GOP, used a photo of a COVID-19 test site line in New York and included the text, “If you can wait in line for hours for testing … You can vote in person.” It was a message that some critics said suggested that excessive waiting times are acceptable and that made light of issues that disproportionately affect communities of color.
Such memes, according to experts, are part of a growing political social media strategy that has become successful in recent years: Package complicated information into short,…
“Texas GOP’s voting meme shows how Trump-style messaging wins internet’s attention” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
A Twitter meme posted on Friday by the Republican Party of Texas that compared waiting in line for COVID-19 tests to waiting in line to vote quickly provoked anger from the left, giddiness from the right, and rose to one of the top trending posts on the platform that day.
In other words, experts on propaganda and internet misinformation said, the meme did exactly what it was intended to do.
“The goal is to further divide people, but divide them by making them feel they’re part of a group,” said Sam Woolley, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin who also serves as the project director for propaganda research at the Center for Media Engagement.
He added that such an approach is “driven by a perspective that other people who don’t believe what you believe are the enemy, rather than fellow Americans.”
The meme, which came from the official account for the Texas GOP, used a photo of a COVID-19 test site line in New York and included the text, “If you can wait in line for hours for testing … You can vote in person.” It was a message that some critics said suggested that excessive waiting times are acceptable and that made light of issues that disproportionately affect communities of color.
Such memes, according to experts, are part of a growing political social media strategy that has become successful in recent years: Package complicated information into short,…Read Morelocal_news
