Sam Howard, NewsGuard’s U.S. politics editor, said that the misleading election claims had been seen on a variety of platforms, including X, Threads, Reddit, and Facebook. According to NewsGuard, the misinformation being spread online has emerged from both sides of the aisle. In instances where Democrats won, such as the U.S. Senate election in Wisconsin, Republicans alleged vote-counting irregularities.
Conversely, some Democrats alleged that Trump’s win was rigged with the help of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet provider, though there is no evidence to support this claim. NewsGuard confirmed there was “no evidence” that Starlink was used to interfere with the presidential election in Trump’s favor, noting that individual election systems are not interconnected. Max Read, a senior research manager for elections at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank studying extremism, hate, and disinformation, stated that the post-election denialism popping up on the left is “the most significant” effort to dispute or undermine elections he has observed from that side of the aisle.
“We see limited engagement on these types of things from liberal spaces or left-leaning actors online,” Read said. “It’s a pretty insignificant level of discourse compared to the right.”
He pointed out that while Republican candidates and Trump have a vast and growing network of right-wing media outlets supporting their conspiracy theories, the same infrastructure does not exist on the left. Left-leaning influencers who have trafficked in undermining the 2024 election do not have the same reach or network.
Moreover, conservative voter denialism efforts have spiraled into violent rhetoric since 2020, whereas liberal rhetoric has not.
Election misinformation on social media
NewsGuard’s Howard added that the majority of left-wing accounts sharing false election claims are “somewhat obscure” in comparison to the accounts spreading misinformation after the 2020 presidential election, where established right-wing figures helped many conspiracy theories gain traction.
Some theories emerging from the left have given right-wing accounts the opportunity to promote past election myths, claiming they affirm the 2020 election was stolen. Howard also noted that many left-wing accounts sharing misinformation about the 2024 presidential election had previously been flagged for promoting theories that the attempted Trump assassination over the summer had been staged, theories that have never been substantiated. “People look for easy answers in times of crisis,” Read said.
“For those who view this election result as a crisis or a shock, it’s somewhat natural to look for something to explain that away.”
Some left-wing creators speculated that Musk’s Starlink was used to manipulate vote tallies, although there is no evidence to support this. Videos on TikTok referencing these claims garnered significant viewership before being removed by the platform. Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, reiterated that there was “no evidence of any malicious activity that had a material impact on the security or integrity of our election infrastructure.”
Read mentioned that social media platforms like TikTok have been moderating posts containing misinformation about the election in accordance with their policies.
Despite these efforts, some left-wing TikTok and X users speculated about a potential recount, fueled by changes on the website of the Harris Victory Fund, a fundraising committee for Harris’ campaign. Hashtags such as “#Trumpcheated,” “#DoNotConcedeKamala,” and “#Recount2024” began trending on X after the election was called for Trump. “Kamala Harris left us a breadcrumb,” one TikTok user said about the updated language on the fund’s website, hoping it indicated efforts for a recount in Harris’s favor.
