“Nothing can stop this,” the report said in a message seen by at least 185,000 people Tuesday morning. “They can no longer hide in the shadows,” he added half an hour later. Then, 20 minutes later, “Past hours.” It went on like this. At around 10 a.m. ET, it posted an ominous photo of soldiers in uniform behind a fence in Washington DC with the caption “ Stay in your homes. ”
A spokesman for General Hyten told CNN on Tuesday morning that the account is “absolutely fake” and added that the Pentagon was “actively working” to remove it. Tuesday afternoon, the account was flagged as a “scam” with the message “Warning: many users reported this account as a scam or a fake account.” The account has since lost some followers and many of the posts have been deleted. A Telegram spokesperson told CNN, “Telegram is monitoring the reports and alerting users to fraudulent accounts in obvious cases, such as the one you have identified.” Facebook and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Conspiracy theory has essentially the same thing that inspired the Uprising at the Capitol on January 6 – the false idea that the elections were stolen and American democracy was threatened, and that someone should do something. Then the rioters took it upon themselves. After the riot, similar groups of people were confident that they could keep waiting because Trump and the military would take action. But given the way conspiracy theories work in general, and the way they’ve spread after the riot, it’s easy to imagine these theories coming out in new ways once it’s clear that no such action is coming.
Much of the discussion about martial law online ultimately relates to QAnon, which has long held a promise of and a craving for blood. But the people who excitedly discuss the possibility of a military takeover may not know the origin of their obsession. And the phenomenon doesn’t seem to be limited to a niche corner of the Internet.
Over the past two weeks, CNN has seen Trump supporters embrace the idea in large numbers and across multiple social media platforms.
On Facebook, a video in which a man warned people to stock up on food before martial law was introduced was viewed more than five million times before it was fact-checked and marked as false. The video is no longer on Facebook, although it is not clear who deleted it. CNN has contacted Facebook for comment.
On YouTube, a man who was previously best known for his claims that he has an alien mother and an alien daughter has suddenly become a star. He garnered more than 3.5 million views with a video claiming that Trump signed the Insurrection Act, a prominent feature of many martial law conspiracy theories. Another video in which he said a whopping 85% of Congress could be arrested has been viewed nearly 1.7 million times. After this article was first published, Ivy Choi, a YouTube spokesperson, told CNN that the company removed the last video after CNN asked about it, saying it[ed] our integrity policy for presidential elections. ”
On TikTok, thousands if not tens of thousands of people have seen and commented on dozens of videos related to the conspiracy theories. Those videos vary in subject matter, all connected to the same false idea that Trump is about to enter martial law – with some people excitedly filming the movement of military vehicles, convinced it is a sign; in other cases, people repeat warnings about being prepared with food and water; A popular theme is that Trump will use the Emergency Broadcast System at any time to announce the start of his move. There is rarely, if ever, any sign of hesitation or concern about the lives that may be lost.
– CNN’s Mallory Simon contributed to the reporting