Democrats in the House and Senate are probing a suspicious Twitter account responsible for posting a viral video of the recent confrontation between a group of high school students wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and a Native American elder, Nathan Phillips, a report said Wednesday.
The House Intelligence Committee and Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chairman of Senate Intelligence Committee, both contacted Twitter this week seeking details about the account, @2020fight, amid concerns emerging about its authenticity, HuffPost reported.
Video shared by the account late Friday contained footage filmed hours earlier showing students of Covington Catholic High School and Mr. Phillips near the Lincon Memorial in Washington, D.C.
“This MAGA loser gleefully bothering a Native American protester at the Indigenous Peoples March,” the account captioned the video.
The footage shared by @2020fight was viewed on Twitter more than 2.5 million times over the weekend, making it one of the most widely-watched videos of the controversial encounter in its aftermath.
The account was suspended Monday, however, after CNN reported that it bore several traits that suggested it was potentially inauthentic or automated.
“Deliberate attempts to manipulate the public conversation on Twitter by using misleading account information is a violation of the Twitter Rules,” said a Twitter spokesperson.
The House intelligence panel led by Rep. Adam Schiff, California Democrat, contacted Twitter after CNN’s report seeking further details about the account, HuffPost reported Tuesday evening. A spokesperson for Mr. Warner, Virginia Democrat, later said his office contacted Twitter about the video as well, the outlet reported Wednesday.
Covington students were cast into the spotlight over the week after footage of the incident involving Mr. Phillips, including an edited video posted by @2020fight on Twitter, portrayed him as being confronted by a mob of mocking teenagers.
President Trump — whose campaign slogan was “Make America Great Again” — said the students “become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be” as a result of the ensuing media coverage.
Created in December 2016, @2020fight followed over 37,000 other accounts and averaged more 130 tweets per day in the weeks prior to being suspended. The account claimed to be operated by a California schoolteacher, though CNN reported that they used an image of a Brazillian-based blogger, Nah Cardoso, for their avatar instead.
Shoutcart, a service that allows customers to pay to have their content promoted on social media by other accounts, offered clients the option of having their posts pushed by @2020fight for a price of $20 per tweet as recently as Jan. 13, HuffPost reported.
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