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A friend of mine just forwarded me a screenshot of the following May 20, 2020 (now-deleted) tweet purportedly from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose nickname and Twitter handle is AOC.

It's vital that Governors maintain restrictions on businesses until after the November Elections because economic recovery will help Trump be re-elected. A few business closures or job losses is a small price to pay to be free from his presidency. #KeepUsClosed

I've attached the screenshot of the tweet.

AOC tweet(?)

For some reason, I think this is fake. My feeling is further compounded by the fact that I Googled a chunk of the quote and the only thing that came up was someone's comment on a Yahoo News article. Can anyone provide confirmation on this, in one direction or the other?

Oddthinking
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Yehuda
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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/109995/discussion-on-question-by-yehuda-did-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-tweet-that-busines). – Jamiec Jun 29 '20 at 09:40

2 Answers2

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Polititweet.com has no references to any tweet matching the screenshot from 20 May 2020, nor any tweets from Rep. Ocasio-Cortez that mention the hashtag #KeepUsClosed.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's Twitter account is archived (alongside the archives of a number of other politicians) on PolitiTweet, a website that describes itself on its homepage

PolitiTweet helps keep the powerful accountable by monitoring celebrities, politicians, and public figures for silent retractions and deleted tweets.

The archive of her page from around 20 May shows only two tweets on the day, both re-tweets of @Nightline.

RT @Nightline: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on whether or not enough has been done to help protect essential workers - those most vulnerab…

RT @Nightline: An exclusive interview with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AOC. Her take on the pandemic’s impact on African-American and La…

A search of the hashtag #KeepUsClosed on Polititweet returns 0 results.

Furthermore, it is extremely trivial to edit tweets using basic developer tools to make any public figure say whatever you want.

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DenisS
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    Politwoops is another one, and same thing, 0 hit on #KeepUsClosed – Entropy Jun 23 '20 at 18:17
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    As a side note, I am pretty sure she would have used the word "tyranny" rather than "presidency" – Charlie Crown Jun 23 '20 at 18:19
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    Also Snopes https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/aoc-businesses-closed-tweet/ - "false". "Moreover, although the tweet was supposedly “shared over 20,000 times,” we could find no instances whatsoever of the original tweet’s having been shared or commented upon at all. It exists only as a screenshot of a faux tweet posted to a private Facebook group." – Lag Jun 23 '20 at 19:44
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    @Asmael this seems like a good answer and you should post it – DenisS Jun 23 '20 at 19:45
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    @Lag you should post this as an answer as well – DenisS Jun 23 '20 at 19:45
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    @Yakk There is no image manipulation to be seen. You can literally edit the text that is being displayed (along with anything else you see in your browser). – David Starkey Jun 24 '20 at 18:56
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    @Yakk https://i.stack.imgur.com/E6wYv.png – wizzwizz4 Jun 24 '20 at 19:58
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    @Yakk I'm not being clear. The process is not "take screenshot of webpage, then edit image". It is "edit webpage, then take screenshot". – David Starkey Jun 24 '20 at 20:47
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    Glad those tweets at the bottom are fakes, because clearly KC BBQ dominates, just as the Chiefs did in the 4th Qtr. – Jesse C. Slicer Jun 24 '20 at 22:49
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    Guys, I think @Yakk was trying to be funny. – user253751 Jun 25 '20 at 09:48
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    If so, he properly failed – Asteroids With Wings Jun 25 '20 at 13:19
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    @AsteroidsWithWings [It's an older meme, sir, but it checks out.](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-looks-shopped) – reirab Jun 25 '20 at 15:18
  • @Yakk - Just to expand on David Starkey's explanation: 1. Right-click the text of a tweet you want to change and choose "Inspect" or "Inspect element" (https://i.stack.imgur.com/DLL3h.png). 2. Click the little > next to the `span` to find the actual text (https://i.stack.imgur.com/FT6yg.png). 3. Double-click the text and change it to what you want (https://i.stack.imgur.com/7dcpj.png). 4. Press Enter and the page is updated; screenshot the result (https://i.stack.imgur.com/JaQBp.png) and there's no photoshop necessary (other than cropping). – T.J. Crowder Jun 26 '20 at 11:20
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AOC is saying the screenshot was faked:

@AOC: I usually don’t tweet to correct fake posts about me bc the right circulates so many, but needless to say the alleged “deleted” reopening tweet people are saying I wrote is a photoshopped fake being circulated by Republicans.

They tell lies because the truth isn’t on their side.

She quote tweets another user explaining how to use Politwoops to determine if a politician’s quote was deleted:

@annalecta: This US House candidate's screenshot of a tweet appearing to be @AOC urging restrictions on businesses until 2020 elections is FAKE.

@propublica's Politwoops database of deleted tweets by politicians is a good way to check before spreading misinformation: https://projects.propublica.org/politwoops/user/AOC

BradC
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