

Slate Magazine this week warned their readers against viewing memes which are "disparaging" to Democrats because it might hurt certain presidential candidates chances to defeat Trump in 2020.



In a column for "Future Tense," which describes itself as "a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University on emerging technologies, public policy, and society," April Glaser wrote:

It Sure Looks Like Trolls Are Weaponizing Call-Out Culture to Weaken Democrats



The election trolls have logged on. Except, despite the cleanup efforts of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube following the 2016 campaign, they never really logged off, with coordinated disinformation campaigns still trying to sow confusion on social media during the 2018 midterms. But now theyíre getting ready for the big show. With 12 Democratic candidates already vying for the White House and more to come, memes and misinformation that appear to be coordinated and possibly connected to foreign propaganda efforts are already afflicting the race. According to a report Wednesday in Politico, Democratic contenders have been the targets of online propaganda aimed at sensationalizing missteps and promoting falsehoods. If these troll campaigns share a goal with the efforts of 2016 and 2018, then the point may be to widen societal divisions already prominent in American life and, in particular, weaken the Democratic Party. In particular, they seem intent on weaponizing a productive moment in our politics in which public figures are finally being held to account for their past actions, and Democrats are sometimes asking other Democrats to resign. The trolls want Democrats to eat each other.



So far, we donít know the source of this activityóitís not clearly linked to the Internet Research Agency, the Russian disinformation factory that was behind thousands of accounts stirring unrest during the 2016 and 2018 elections. Wherever itís from, what has been found so far does appear to be coordinated and bears many of the traits of past foreign operations. [...]



Trolls of both foreign and domestic vintage helped make the 2016 election the cacophony we remember. Now, as candidates struggle to differentiate themselves at a time when voters on the left may punish a candidate who has crossed ethical lines, itís safe to expect trolls on social media to play every misstep up to its fullestópotentially as part of another propaganda effort to ensure victory for Donald Trump. Even if a meme you see that disparages a Democratic candidate is based on truth, itís important to remember that its goal might be to simply weaken Democrats by making candidates toxic for swaths of the left, and ultimately make 2020 a repeat of 2016. [Bold emphasis added, italics in original] Three elements stand out:



- All criticism of Democrats is now going to be framed as the work of foreign actors.



- We will not be told who these foreign actors are but the implication will be it's all Russkies.



- As we saw last week, the left is absolutely terrified of hard-hitting memes such as these ones criticizing establishment darling Kamala Harris.



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