Among his most recent critics has been retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a whistleblower whose testimony played a part in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment.

Vindman questioned Musk’s influence over Twitter this week, writing, “Kinda weird that @elonmusk gets to decide how like a half-billion people communicate. Way too much power for one erratic individual to wield, don’t you think?”

The tweet was flagged by multiple users, who alleged it was part of platform manipulation through inauthentic behavior, or a “bot campaign,” against Twitter’s new owner.

The Claim

A tweet posted on Sunday suggested that Colonel Alexander S. Vindman shared a “bot” account-fueled tweet criticizing Musk, implying that the former director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council (among others) was part of a bot attack on the Twitter CEO.

“Twitter bots” are automated and, usually, fake Twitter accounts used for propagating nefarious content, such as spam, trolling or misinformation, according to a definition from cyber security software maker Norton.

The tweet said: “BLEEP BLOOP KINDA WEIRD THAT@ELONMUSK GETS TO DECIDE HOW LIKE A HALF-BILLION PEOPLE COMMUNICATE BLEEP. WAY TOO MUCH POWER FOR ONE ERRATIC INDIVIDUAL TO WEILD, DON’T YOU THINK BLOOP?”

It included screengrabs of multiple other tweets (including Vindman’s original), all of which shared the same message word for word.

The Facts

The claim that Vindman’s tweet might have been part of a “bot” campaign has received more than 57,000 engagements, including from Musk, who labeled the tweets “bots in human form” adding “spamming, whether done by a set of humans or bots is against ToS.”

Musk made further allegations aimed at Vindman, writing: “Vindman is both puppet & puppeteer. Question is who pulls his strings … ?”

He stopped short of accusing Vindman of leading or being behind the campaign. He also did not elaborate on—or provide evidence in support of—the “puppet & puppeteer” claim.

Vindman later responded: “I’ll put my reputation up against yours any day. I’ve spent my entire adult life in service to my country. Upheld my oath to protect & defend this nation at great personal cost. You’ve demonstrated yourself to be a purveyor of hate and division. Let history be the judge.”

As noted, Vindman’s original message was included within a screengrab of tweets with the same wording. This implied that he might have taken part in a “copypasta” campaign, where text is copied and repeated on Twitter, often through the use of inauthentic Twitter accounts and “bots.”

However, the timeline of events—misrepresented in the screengrab—appears to show that Vindman was the first person to send the message.

Vindman first posted the tweet on November 27, 2022, at 12:07 a.m. (EST) with the typographically incorrect message “Kinda wired [sic] that @elonmusk gets to decide how like a half-billion people communicate. Way too much power for one erratic individual to wield, don’t you think?”

This was followed by a slew of similar tweets from other accounts, but with the typo from the original post corrected, starting at 12:14 a.m. Vindman then edited the message himself, removing the typo, at 12:24 a.m.

So, while Vindman was the first to send the message (albeit with a typo) and later corrected himself (which others had done already, and may have been repeated from bot accounts) he was not sharing a message from elsewhere, merely editing his same tweet from earlier.

Newsweek Fact Check found that some (but not all) of the accounts that repeated Vindman’s message were rated as more likely to be bots than not, according to Bot Sentinel, a non-profit tool that analyzes the authenticity of Twitter accounts.

Professor of Informatics and Computer Science at Indiana University and developer of Botometer Filippo Menczer told Newsweek in August that “bot” tweets often might be shared by “cyborgs,” or “inauthentic accounts that are maintained and used for services like selling fake followers, fake likes, fake retweets.”

“We call these cyborgs—normal human activity is mixed with occasional [possibly automated] inauthentic activity,” he added. “This could be happening even without the people owning the accounts being aware of it. The accounts could be hacked. Or more likely they might have given someone else access to their account.”

Since it was posted, it appears that tweets copying Vindman’s message might have been deleted, with few search results matching the exact wording. In fact, many more mimic or paraphrase the tweet in a satirical manner, in an apparent attempt to undermine Vindman’s original post, and perhaps the ensuing “copypasta.”

The ensuing conversation, with some criticizing and others supporting Vindman, arguably created the perfect conditions for this virtual flashmob to take hold.

While Newsweek is unable to independently verify who might have been behind this behavior, or why, there are any number of motivations for conducting “bot attacks.” They could be used for PR purposes, either to drum up fake support or spread negative sentiment about a public figure or cause.

“Bots” can also be weaponized to target or harass users, undermine messaging and manipulate platform safety tools in a kind of false flag attack, or for more run-of-the-mill propaganda purposes.

A report by The Knight Foundation on 2016 election conspiracy theories found that many “bot” tweets that supported left-wing talking points were sent by coordinated, right-leaning accounts. So while his supporters or even Vindman himself could have been driving the “copypasta,” it might instead have been an effort, through a fake or bot account network, to gather followers and likes (thereby extending their reach), or undermine Vindman by doing so.

There is no evidence suggesting that either Vindman or a group of his supporters (or detractors) was behind the influx of “spam” messages.

Indeed, given Musk’s control of the platform, and the staunch support he receives on Twitter, it would have been (at the very least) unwise to attempt to carry out such a campaign and risk exposure.

In any case, based on independently conducted search queries and the timings of the tweets, Newsweek can say with a high degree of confidence that Vindman was the first person to tweet the message critical of Musk.

Newsweek reached out to Vindman and Twitter for comment.

The Ruling

False.

Alexander Vindman sent the original tweet about Elon Musk. The first message he sent contained a typo, which he corrected in an edit less than 20 minutes later. However, within that space of time, others corrected and began sharing his message.

This created the impression that Vindman shared a “copypasta” message. There is no evidence to suggest that Vindman coordinated or took part in a bot attack using his tweet, as opposed to simply making a statement that was then repeated by multiple other accounts.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team