NYT: Democrat Facebook Disinformation Campaign in Alabama Included Support for Prohibition

The New York Times has revealed more details about a disinformation campaign led by Democrat strategists during the 2017 Alabama Senate election, which may have contributed to a narrow victory by Democrat candidate Doug Jones.

According to the New York Times, the strategists, funded by Billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, created fake social media campaigns which appeared to support a ban on alcohol.

The radical campaigns then endorsed Republican candidate Roy Moore, in an attempt to erode his support.

“The ‘Dry Alabama’ Facebook page, illustrated with stark images of car wrecks and videos of families ruined by drink, had a blunt message: Alcohol is the devil’s work, and the state should ban it entirely,” the Times reported. “Along with a companion Twitter feed, the Facebook page appeared to be the work of Baptist teetotalers who supported the Republican, Roy S. Moore, in the 2017 Alabama Senate race. ‘Pray for Roy Moore,’ one tweet exhorted. In fact, the Dry Alabama campaign, not previously reported, was the stealth creation of progressive Democrats who were out to defeat Mr. Moore — the second such secret effort to be unmasked.”

“In a political bank shot made in the last two weeks of the campaign, they thought associating Mr. Moore with calls for a statewide alcohol ban would hurt him with moderate, business-oriented Republicans and assist the Democrat, Doug Jones, who won the special election by a hair-thin margin,” explained the Times, which previously reported on the Democrat disinformation campaign to falsely link Republican candidate Roy Moore to Russia, by creating fake Russian accounts.

The New York Times reported in December that Democrat strategists imitated “Russian tactics” to sway the election in favor of the Democrats, and they “posed as conservative Alabamians, using it to try to divide Republicans and even to endorse a write-in candidate to draw votes from Mr. Moore.”

Facebook suspended five accounts associated with the strategists in response, and Hoffman apologized for funding the “highly disturbing” effort, which he claimed to be “embarrassed” by.