Likewar: The Weaponization of Social Media

by P.W. Singer

developer, MicroChip claimed to have become a believer in the alt-right after the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. With his tech background, he realized he could manipulate Twitter’s programming applications, initially testing such “anti-PC” hashtags as #Raperefugees to see what he could drive viral. By the time of the 2016 election, he labored twelve hours at a time, popping Adderall to stay focused as he pumped out pro-Trump propaganda. Described by a Republican strategist as the “Trumpbot overlord,” MicroChip specialized in using bots to launch hashtags (#TrumpTrain, #cruzsexscandal, #hillarygropedme) that could redirect and dominate political conversation across Twitter. When his machine was firing on all cylinders, MicroChip could produce more than 30,000 retweets in a single day, each of which could reach orders of magnitude more users. He took particular joy in using his army of fake accounts to disseminate lies, including #Pizzagate. “I can make whatever claims I want to make,” he bragged. “That’s how this game works.”