Occupy Democrats
{{short description|American left-wing political Facebook page and website}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{use mdy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox website
| logo = File:Occupy_Democrats_logo.png
| url = {{Official URL}}
{{URL|washingtonpress.com}}
| owner = Omar Rivero and Rafael Rivero
| key_people = Grant Stern (executive editor){{cite news |last1=Kilander |first1=Gustaf |title='Occupy' leader claims police 'dragged' him out of Kevin McCarthy presser for asking about Capitol riot commission |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kevin-mccarthy-press-conference-capitol-riot-b1897801.html |access-date=March 31, 2023 |work=The Independent |date=August 5, 2021 |archive-date=March 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331082326/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kevin-mccarthy-press-conference-capitol-riot-b1897801.html |url-status=live }}
| launch_date = {{start date and age|2012}}
| location_country = United States
| language = English
| name = Occupy Democrats
| current_status = Online
}}
Occupy Democrats is an American left-wing{{refn|name=left-wing|{{cite news |last1=Menn |first1=Joseph |title=Russia seen adopting new tactics in U.S. election interference efforts |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-russia-idUSKCN1NB0PI |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=Reuters |date=November 5, 2018 |archive-date=January 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111203230/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-russia-idUSKCN1NB0PI |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Bias, Fake News, Hoaxes, & Lies |url=https://redwoods.libguides.com/fakenews/leftright |website=redwoods.libguides.com |publisher=College of the Redwoods |access-date=December 16, 2020 |archive-date=January 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111220442/https://redwoods.libguides.com/fakenews/leftright |url-status=live }}}} media outlet built around a Facebook page and corresponding website. Established in 2012, it publishes hyperpartisan content,{{refn|name=hyperpartisan|{{Cite journal|last=Barfar|first=Arash|date=2019-12-01|title=Cognitive and affective responses to political disinformation in Facebook|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563219302699|journal=Computers in Human Behavior|language=en|volume=101|page=175|doi=10.1016/j.chb.2019.07.026|s2cid=199884854|issn=0747-5632|quote=To construct the political disinformation sample, we focused on Facebook posts from ten popular sources that are known for promulgating political disinformation in Facebook...Among the selected hyper-partisan disinformation sources...Addicting Info, AlterNet, Daily KOS, and Occupy Democrats are extreme Liberal.|via=Science Direct|access-date=July 10, 2021|archive-date=December 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209194116/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563219302699|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|last=Marwick|first=Alice E.|author-link=Alice Marwick|date=2018-03-22|title=Why do People Share Fake News? A Sociotechnical Model of Media Effects|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA560926928&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs|journal=The Georgetown Law Technology Review|language=English|publisher=Georgetown University Law Center|volume=2|issue=2|pages=474–513|quote=The term "fake news"...expanded to include hyper-partisan news sites like Breitbart, DailyCaller, and Occupy Democrats...|via=Gale OneFile|access-date=July 10, 2021|archive-date=August 17, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817131438/https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA560926928&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs&userGroupName=anon%7E76cdd6&aty=open-web-entry|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=LaFrance|first=Adrienne|author-link=Adrienne LaFrance|date=December 15, 2020|title=Facebook Is a Doomsday Machine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/12/facebook-doomsday-machine/617384/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-10|website=The Atlantic|language=en|quote=Zuckerberg authorized a tweak to the Facebook algorithm so that high-accuracy news sources such as NPR would receive preferential visibility in people's feeds, and hyper-partisan pages such as Breitbart News's and Occupy Democrats' would be buried...|archive-date=July 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705120514/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/12/facebook-doomsday-machine/617384/}}{{Cite book|last1=Horne|first1=Benjamin D.|last2=Dron|first2=William|last3=Khedr|first3=Sara|last4=Adali|first4=Sibel |title=WWW '18: Companion Proceedings of The Web Conference 2018 |chapter=Assessing the News Landscape: A Multi-Module Toolkit for Evaluating the Credibility of News |author-link4=Sibel Adalı|date=2018-04-23 |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery|pages=235–238|doi=10.1145/3184558.3186987|isbn=978-1-4503-5640-4|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal |last1=Sturm Wilkerson |first1=Heloisa |last2=Riedl |first2=Martin J. |last3=Whipple |first3=Kelsey N. |date=2021-04-14 |title=Affective Affordances: Exploring Facebook Reactions as Emotional Responses to Hyperpartisan Political News |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2021.1899011 |journal=Digital Journalism |language=en |volume=9 |issue=8 |pages=1040–1061 |doi=10.1080/21670811.2021.1899011 |issn=2167-0811 |quote=In this study, we focus our attention on hyperpartisan news content from the left (e.g. NowThis, Upworthy, The Young Turks, Occupy Democrats)... |s2cid=234853464 |access-date=July 15, 2021 |archive-date=July 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715050338/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21670811.2021.1899011 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}{{cite news |last1=Forney |first1=Ben |date=September 25, 2017 |title=All the Fake News That's Fit to Print |work=Asan Institute for Policy Studies |url=http://en.asaninst.org/contents/all-the-fake-news-thats-fit-to-print/#17 |access-date=January 4, 2021 |quote=Today, partisan Facebook groups such as Occupy Democrats continue to share both real and fake news to their millions of followers, further blurring the line between fact and fiction. |archive-date=August 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817131426/http://en.asaninst.org/contents/all-the-fake-news-thats-fit-to-print/#17 |url-status=live }}}} clickbait,{{refn|name=clickbait|{{cite journal |last1=Rae |first1=Maria |title=Hyperpartisan news: Rethinking the media for populist politics |journal=New Media and Society |date=March 5, 2020 |volume=23 |issue=5 |pages=1117–1132 |doi=10.1177/1461444820910416 |s2cid=216172926 |quote=Occupy Democrats are likewise focused on attacking Trump ... through their clickbait style of reporting, which has been criticised as 'fake news'. |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1461444820910416 |access-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-date=January 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105175143/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1461444820910416 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}{{cite news |title=Breitbart, Occupy Democrats among list of alleged fake, misleading news sites to avoid |url=https://www.king5.com/article/features/breitbart-occupy-democrats-among-list-of-alleged-fake-misleading-news-sites-to-avoid/281-353394898 |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=KING-TV |date=November 17, 2016 |archive-date=January 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111175442/https://www.king5.com/article/features/breitbart-occupy-democrats-among-list-of-alleged-fake-misleading-news-sites-to-avoid/281-353394898 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web|last1=Faris |first1=Robert M. |last2=Roberts |first2=Hal |last3=Etling |first3=Bruce |last4=Bourassa |first4=Nikki |last5=Zuckerman |first5=Ethan |last6=Benkler |first6=Yochai |date=2017 |title=Partisanship, Propaganda, and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election |url=https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/33759251 |journal= |language=en-US |publisher=Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society |issn=3375-9251 |access-date=October 23, 2022 |archive-date=October 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023001249/https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/33759251 |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |last=Carrasco-Farré |first=Carlos |date=2022-05-09 |title=The fingerprints of misinformation: how deceptive content differs from reliable sources in terms of cognitive effort and appeal to emotions |journal=Humanities and Social Sciences Communications |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1057/s41599-022-01174-9 |s2cid=248682693 |issn=2662-9992|doi-access=free }}}} and false information.{{refn|{{Cite news |last=Dwoskin |first=Elizabeth |date=September 4, 2021 |title=Misinformation on Facebook got six times more clicks than factual news during the 2020 election, study says |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/09/03/facebook-misinformation-nyu-study/ |access-date=October 22, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post |quote=The team then took 2,551 of these pages and compared the interactions on posts on pages by publishers known for misinformation, such as the left-leaning Occupy Democrats... |archive-date=October 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021031124/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/09/03/facebook-misinformation-nyu-study/ |url-status=live }}}} In 2017, posts originating from the Occupy Democrats Facebook page were among the most widely shared political content on Facebook.
History
Occupy Democrats was established as a Facebook page in 2012 by Rafael and Omar Rivero.{{cite news |last1=Fabbri |first1=Thomas |title=US election 2020: The people behind the political memes you share |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54748453 |access-date=November 2, 2020 |work=BBC News |date=December 16, 2020 |archive-date=November 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116231342/https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54748453 |url-status=live }} A corresponding website was later created.{{cite news |last1=Corasaniti |first1=Nick |title=How Immigrant Twin Brothers Are Beating Trump's Team on Facebook |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/us/politics/occupy-democrats-facebook.html |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=New York Times |date=May 18, 2020 |archive-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201214161303/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/us/politics/occupy-democrats-facebook.html |url-status=live }} Its stated objective is to provide a "counterbalance to the Republican Tea Party".{{cite web |title=Occupy Democrats's file |url=http://www.politifact.com/personalities/occupy-democrats/ |website=Politifact |access-date=August 21, 2017 |archive-date=April 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415002037/http://www.politifact.com/personalities/occupy-democrats/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web|title=About Us|url=https://occupydemocrats.com/about-us/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-23|website=Occupy Democrats|language=en-US|quote=Founded in late 2012 by Omar and Rafael Rivero, Occupy Democrats is a political organization and news website that provided an online counterbalance to the Republican "Tea Party."|archive-date=February 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201221540/https://occupydemocrats.com/about-us/}}
In September 2022, Occupy Democrats was accused of having raised almost $800,000 for its election fund and donating none of the money to federal candidates, and of donating $250,000 from the fund to Blue Deal LLC, a company owned by Rafael Rivero.{{efn|Originally named Blue Deal, LLC., the Occupy Democrats' company changed its name to Blue Digital Strategies after receiving a cease-and-desist notification from the women-owned business The Blue Deal.}} In response to the accusations, Omar Rivero claimed that the fund operated as a super PAC and was barred from donating directly to candidates, and that none of the money given to Blue Deal LLC had gone to him or Rafael. Axios journalist Lachlan Markay said that the election fund was actually a hybrid PAC and thus could donate to political candidates.{{Cite web |last=Thalen |first=Mikael |date=2022-09-27 |title=Occupy Democrats cite high cost of memes after left-wing PAC accused of not distributing funds |url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/occupy-democrats-election-fund-controversy/ |access-date=2022-10-15 |website=The Daily Dot |language=en-US |archive-date=March 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320095106/https://www.dailydot.com/debug/occupy-democrats-election-fund-controversy/ |url-status=live }}
Founders
Omar and Rafael Rivero were born in Mexico in {{Circa|1987}}, the youngest of seven children. Their mother is American. The family moved to Florida in 1994.
Rafael studied at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, where he was a member of the College Republicans. Omar obtained a soccer scholarship at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, but was forced to quit after one year due to experiencing difficulties with playing soccer; he subsequently studied at Cornell University in 2006, where he majored in industrial and labor relations. Omar and Rafael were later diagnosed as having a rare mutation in the MTHFR gene, which causes neuropathy.
In 2007, Rafael worked for Ron Paul; he later said, "I met a lot of bigoted people along the way, and as a Mexican immigrant, I didn't feel comfortable. That was part of my awakening, I would say, away from conservative politics." He and Omar joined Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.
In 2015, Omar joined the advisory board of World Patent Marketing, an invention promotion firm.{{Cite press release |last= |date=2015-02-23 |title=Omar Rivero, Founder of Occupy Democrats and Outspoken Opponent of Patent Troll Scams, Joins World Patent Marketing Board of Advisors |url=https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/02/23/708599/33902/en/Omar-Rivero-Founder-of-Occupy-Democrats-and-Outspoken-Opponent-of-Patent-Troll-Scams-Joins-World-Patent-Marketing-Board-of-Advisors.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507022636/https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/02/23/708599/33902/en/Omar-Rivero-Founder-of-Occupy-Democrats-and-Outspoken-Opponent-of-Patent-Troll-Scams-Joins-World-Patent-Marketing-Board-of-Advisors.html |archive-date=May 7, 2021 |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=GlobeNewswire News Room |publisher=World Patent Marketing |language=en}} The firm was shut down in May 2018 after the Federal Trade Commission determined that it was defrauding investors.{{cite web |last1=Goldman |first1=Alan |last2=Robles |first2=Frances |date=2018-11-09 |title=Acting Attorney General Sat on Board of Company Accused of Bilking Customers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/us/politics/whitaker-trump-attorney-general.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410121620/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/us/politics/whitaker-trump-attorney-general.html |archive-date=April 10, 2021 |access-date=2021-04-10 |website=The New York Times}}{{Cite web |last=Gibson |first=Kate |date=2018-11-10 |title=Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker served on World Patent Marketing advisory board during scam accusations |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/acting-attorney-general-matthew-whitaker-served-on-world-patent-marketing-advisory-board-during-scam-accusations/ |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=CBS News |language=en-US |archive-date=August 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819082240/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/acting-attorney-general-matthew-whitaker-served-on-world-patent-marketing-advisory-board-during-scam-accusations/ |url-status=live }}
In August 2018, Omar launched Liker, a social media platform that was described as being full of misinformation about the Trump administration.{{Cite magazine |last=Kosoff |first=Maya |date=2018-08-30 |title=Don Jr.'s Free-Speech Paradise Already Exists—And It's Terrible |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/08/don-jrs-free-speech-paradise-already-exists-and-its-terrible |access-date=2024-10-15 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}} Liker shut down in 2021. Omar launched the beta version of Tribel, another social media platform, in October 2021; it exited its beta phase in August 2022.{{Cite web |last1=Bergin |first1=Celia |last2=Chandler-wilde |first2=Helen |date=2022-11-09 |title=Leaving Twitter? Alternative social media sites are ready |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/11/09/business/tech/twitter-social-media-alternatives-ready/ |access-date=2024-10-15 |website=The Japan Times |language=en |archive-date=November 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122092159/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/11/09/business/tech/twitter-social-media-alternatives-ready/ |url-status=live }} That November, The Daily Beast reported that Tribel had an abundance of hateful content despite its "hate-free" branding.
Influence
In a 2017 feature on partisan news, BuzzFeed News analyzed weekly Facebook engagements "since the beginning of 2015 and found that Occupy Democrats on the left and Fox News on the right are the top pages in each political category". The article added that the pages "consistently generate more total engagement than the pages of major media outlets".{{Cite news |last=Silverman |first=Craig |last2=Lytvynenko |first2=Jane |last3=Vo |first3=Lam Thuy |last4=Singer-Vine |first4=Jeremy |date=August 8, 2017 |title=Inside The Partisan Political Fight For Your Facebook News Feed |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/inside-the-partisan-fight-for-your-news-feed |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526072218/https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/inside-the-partisan-fight-for-your-news-feed |archive-date=May 26, 2023 |access-date=August 25, 2017 |work=BuzzFeed News |language=en}}
Occupy Democrats was named the "Most Influential Progressive Facebook Page" by CrowdTangle in 2015{{Cite news|url=https://blog.crowdtangle.com/most-influential-progressive-facebook-pages-of-the-year-fe5c14692ae0|title=Most Influential Progressive Facebook Pages of the Year|date=2015-12-31|work=CrowdTangle Blog|access-date=2020-11-25|archive-date=April 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415002037/https://blog.crowdtangle.com/most-influential-progressive-facebook-pages-of-the-year-fe5c14692ae0|url-status=live}} and by 2017 surpassed 7 million followers.{{Cite news |url=https://www.laweekly.com/behind-the-scenes-at-occupy-democrats-the-left-wings-answer-to-fake-news/ |title=Behind the Scenes at Occupy Democrats, the Left Wing's Answer to Fake News |last=Shammas |first=Brittany |date=September 26, 2017 |work=L.A. Weekly |access-date=2020-11-25 |archive-date=October 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028002548/https://www.laweekly.com/behind-the-scenes-at-occupy-democrats-the-left-wings-answer-to-fake-news/ |url-status=live }} In 2017, Occupy Democrats was among the 30 most frequently shared sources on Facebook.{{Citation |last=Benkler |first=Yochai |title=The Architecture of Our Discontent |date=2018-11-29 |work=Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics |pages=0 |editor-last=Benkler |editor-first=Yochai |editor-link=Yochai Benkler |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/26406/chapter/194769168 |access-date=2025-01-23 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-092362-4 |last2=Faris |first2=Robert |last3=Roberts |first3=Hal |editor2-last=Faris |editor2-first=Robert |editor3-last=Roberts |editor3-first=Hal |archive-date=July 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727181358/https://academic.oup.com/book/26406/chapter/194769168 |url-status=live }} In May 2020, almost half of the 40 top-performing videos that mentioned "Trump" on Facebook originated from Occupy Democrats. As of October 2022, Occupy Democrats had 10 million followers on Facebook and over 498,000 followers on Twitter.{{Cite news |last=Perano |first=Ursula |date=2022-10-19 |title=Left's 'Free of Hate' Platform Full of Bigoted, Sexist Posts |language=en |work=The Daily Beast |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/lefts-new-free-of-hate-social-media-proves-impossible-to-police |access-date=2022-10-22 |archive-date=May 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513181023/https://www.thedailybeast.com/lefts-new-free-of-hate-social-media-proves-impossible-to-police |url-status=live }}
In a paper presented at the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Argha Ray and Joey George concluded that disinformation propagated by Occupy Democrats "has the potential to further deepen the cracks in an already divided society".{{cite book |last1=Ray |first1=Argha |chapter=Online Disinformation and the Psychological Bases of Prejudice and Political Conservatism |date=2019 |title=Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences |isbn=978-0-9981331-2-6 |page=2742 |hdl=10125/59711 |chapter-url=https://hdl.handle.net/10125/59711 |access-date=December 16, 2020 |archive-date=April 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415002037/https://hdl.handle.net/10125/59711 |url-status=live }}
=2016 U.S presidential election=
File:Bernie_Sanders_Nashua_Oct_2016_-_2.jpg
The organization received wide attention during the 2016 presidential primaries of the Democratic Party, and was credited for having helped build support for Bernie Sanders' candidacy.{{cite news |date=September 10, 2016 |title=Yes, I'd lie to you |url=https://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21706498-dishonesty-politics-nothing-new-manner-which-some-politicians-now-lie-and |newspaper=The Economist |access-date=August 21, 2017 |archive-date=November 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161119033330/http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21706498-dishonesty-politics-nothing-new-manner-which-some-politicians-now-lie-and |url-status=live }} The site shifted its support to Hillary Clinton, following her nomination as Democratic Party presidential candidate.{{cite news |last1=Heilweil |first1=Rebecca |title=Inside the Biden campaign's surprising influencer strategy |url=https://www.vox.com/recode/21429755/influencers-joe-biden-democrats-pacs-social-media-facebook-instagram-campaign |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=Vox |date=September 22, 2020 |archive-date=May 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230525185454/https://www.vox.com/recode/21429755/influencers-joe-biden-democrats-pacs-social-media-facebook-instagram-campaign |url-status=live }}
=2020 U.S. presidential election=
According to Rafael Rivero, he was "plugged in" with the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign and the campaign worked directly with the outlet to disseminate political messaging.{{cite news |last1=Thompson |first1=Alex |title=The Biden campaign faces a mind-boggling challenge: How to make Joe go viral |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/03/can-joe-bidens-team-make-him-go-viral-228706 |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=Politico |date=May 3, 2020 |archive-date=April 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419003408/https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/03/can-joe-bidens-team-make-him-go-viral-228706 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Kelly |first1=Makena |title=The Biden campaign wants to take back YouTube |url=https://www.theverge.com/21489979/biden-trump-presidential-dabate-election-youtube-ben-shapiro-dave-rubin |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=The Verge |date=September 28, 2020 |archive-date=January 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111020806/https://www.theverge.com/21489979/biden-trump-presidential-dabate-election-youtube-ben-shapiro-dave-rubin |url-status=live }} In October 2020, Occupy Democrats experienced a significant drop in its reach on Facebook, which Rivero attributed to action taken by Facebook to throttle traffic, a claim Facebook denied.{{cite news |last1=Silverman |first1=Craig |title=Facebook Cut Traffic To Leading Liberal Pages Just Before The Election |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-cut-traffic-liberal-pages-before-election |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=Buzzfeed News |date=November 3, 2020 |archive-date=April 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430145823/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-cut-traffic-liberal-pages-before-election |url-status=live }}
=Biden administration=
During the presidency of Joe Biden, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain gave his first interview following the 2022 State of the Union Address on a Twitter Spaces live chat hosted by Occupy Democrats.{{cite news |last=Tani |first=Max |date=July 18, 2022 |title=Always Tweet |url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2022/07/18/always-tweet-00046393 |work=Politico |location= |access-date=July 23, 2022 |archive-date=April 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418083142/https://www.politico.com/newsletters/west-wing-playbook/2022/07/18/always-tweet-00046393 |url-status=live }}
Content
File:Instagram photo January 20, 2017 at 10 31AM (32387314976).jpg debate the reliability of websites like Occupy Democrats and The Blaze during an instructional event in 2017.]]
=Subject matter=
Occupy Democrats posts memes and content primarily about United States politics. Its content is hyperpartisan,{{refn|name=hyperpartisan}} left-oriented{{refn|name=left-wing}} and built around clickbait{{refn|name=clickbait}} and hyperbole.{{cite news |last1=Coppins |first1=McKay |title=How the Left Lost Its Mind |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/liberal-fever-swamps/530736/ |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=The Atlantic |date=July 2, 2017 |quote=The content plastered across these pages includes standard-issue clickbait (“Trump Just Did Something Awful At His Golf Course”) and hyperbolic headlines (“Queen Elizabeth Just Told Trump To Go F*ck Himself And It Is Perfect”). But these feeds are also studded with straightforwardly fake news. |archive-date=December 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223012416/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/liberal-fever-swamps/530736/ |url-status=live }} Comments to posts shared on Occupy Democrats tend to be hallmarked by "greater anger and incivility" than those of mainstream media Facebook pages and groups.{{cite news |last1=Owen |first1=Laura Hazard |title=Where's the anger on Facebook these days? A lot of it is on far-left sites |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/08/wheres-the-anger-on-facebook-these-days-a-lot-of-it-is-on-far-left-sites/ |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=Nieman Foundation for Journalism |date=August 2, 2019 |archive-date=December 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215191926/https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/08/wheres-the-anger-on-facebook-these-days-a-lot-of-it-is-on-far-left-sites/ |url-status=live }}
=Accuracy=
==Evaluation by academia==
In 2017, the Asan Institute for Policy Studies said that Occupy Democrats "share[s] both real and fake news ... further blurring the line between fact and fiction". Some scientific studies have identified Occupy Democrats as a fake news website.{{Cite journal |last1=Allcott |first1=Hunt |last2=Gentzkow |first2=Matthew |last3=Yu |first3=Chuan |date=2019-04-01 |title=Trends in the diffusion of misinformation on social media |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/2053168019848554/suppl_file/appendix.pdf |journal=Research & Politics |language=en |publisher=SAGE Publishing |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages= |arxiv=1809.05901 |doi=10.1177/2053168019848554 |issn=2053-1680 |s2cid=52291737 |access-date=October 22, 2022 |archive-date=December 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208222251/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/2053168019848554/suppl_file/appendix.pdf |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |last1=Guess |first1=Andrew M. |last2=Nyhan |first2=Brendan |last3=Reifler |first3=Jason |date=2 March 2020 |title=Exposure to untrustworthy websites in the 2016 US election |journal=Nature Human Behaviour |language=en |volume=4 |issue=5 |pages=472–480 |doi=10.1038/s41562-020-0833-x |pmid=32123342 |pmc=7239673 |hdl=10871/121820 |s2cid=209430485 |issn=2397-3374}}{{Cite journal |last1=Osmundsen |first1=Mathias |last2=Bor |first2=Alexander |last3=Vahlstrup |first3=Peter Bjerregaard |last4=Bechmann |first4=Anja |last5=Petersen |first5=Michael Bang |date=May 7, 2021 |title=Partisan Polarization Is the Primary Psychological Motivation behind Political Fake News Sharing on Twitter |url=https://dataverse.harvard.edu/file.xhtml?fileId=4491271&version=1.0 |journal=American Political Science Review |language=en |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=115 |issue=3 |pages=999–1015 |doi=10.1017/S0003055421000290 |issn=0003-0554 |s2cid=235527523 |access-date=October 26, 2022 |archive-date=August 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210822100753/https://dataverse.harvard.edu/file.xhtml?fileId=4491271&version=1.0 |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |last1=Haenschen |first1=Katherine |last2=Shu |first2=Mia X. |last3=Gilliland |first3=Jacob A. |date=2023-06-12 |title=Curated Misinformation: Liking Facebook Pages for Fake News Sites |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00027642231175638 |journal=American Behavioral Scientist |volume=68 |issue=10 |pages=1290–1307 |language=en |doi=10.1177/00027642231175638 |s2cid=259408676 |issn=0002-7642 |access-date=August 17, 2023 |archive-date=August 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817131423/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00027642231175638 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}
According to the University of Iowa library, Occupy Democrats "has been known to show misleading, fake, or exaggerated partisan content".{{cite web |title=Library Sources, Credibility & Finding the Good Stuff: Evaluation and Credibility |quote=This comes from Occupy Democrats, which has been known to show misleading, fake, or exaggerated partisan content favoring Democrats. |url=https://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/c.php?g=972061&p=7025512 |website=uiowa.edu |publisher=University of Iowa |access-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-date=January 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105015248/https://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/c.php?g=972061&p=7025512 |url-status=live }} The Valencia College library includes Occupy Democrats on a list of sources that "cannot usually be accepted at face value and need further verification from other sources to determine if information is credible".{{cite web |title=Fake News: Separating Truth From Fiction: 1. What Is Fake News? |url=https://libguides.valenciacollege.edu/c.php?g=612299&p=4251522 |website=valenciacollege.edu |publisher=Valencia College |access-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-date=January 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111170207/https://libguides.valenciacollege.edu/c.php?g=612299&p=4251522 |url-status=live }} In a 2017 poster session developed by the library staff of the University of California at Merced, Occupy Democrats was rated "questionable" for its factual reporting and was noted for "not having a very good fact check record".{{cite web |title=Elevate Your News Evaluation |url=https://libguides.ucmerced.edu/elevate-news-evaluation/posters |website=UC Merced Library |publisher=University of California, Merced |access-date=January 4, 2021 |archive-date=January 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111181348/https://libguides.ucmerced.edu/elevate-news-evaluation/posters |url-status=live }}
==Evaluation by media==
Occupy Democrats has repeatedly been criticized by fact-checking websites for posting "exaggerated or invented news stories". Brooke Binkowski, a managing editor at Snopes, commented that Occupy Democrats' headlines were often "extremely misleading".{{Cite news|last=Sommer|first=Will|author-link=Will Sommer|date=2018-08-29|title=Bogus Claims About Trump Fill Liker, the Liberal Alternative to Facebook|language=en|work=The Daily Beast|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/liker-a-facebook-alternative-for-liberals-is-hive-of-false-claims-about-trump|access-date=2021-07-10|archive-date=May 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508085629/https://www.thedailybeast.com/liker-a-facebook-alternative-for-liberals-is-hive-of-false-claims-about-trump|url-status=live}}
According to The Atlantic, Occupy Democrats' posts are "studded with straightforwardly fake news". The Los Angeles Weekly reports that its posts are "free from the constraints of objectivity and, in some cases, facts".{{cite news |last1=Shammas |first1=Brittany |date=September 26, 2017 |title=Behind the Scenes at Occupy Democrats |url=https://www.laweekly.com/behind-the-scenes-at-occupy-democrats-the-left-wings-answer-to-fake-news/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028002548/https://www.laweekly.com/behind-the-scenes-at-occupy-democrats-the-left-wings-answer-to-fake-news/ |archive-date=October 28, 2020 |access-date=December 16, 2020 |work=Los Angeles Weekly}} A 2016 BuzzFeed News analysis found it was "the least accurate left-wing page" of several Facebook pages it reviewed and cited one instance where it published a satirical story as fact.{{cite news |last1=Silverman |first1=Craig |title=Hyperpartisan Facebook Pages Are Publishing False And Misleading Information At An Alarming Rate |url=https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/partisan-fb-pages-analysis |access-date=January 4, 2021 |work=Buzzfeed News |date=October 20, 2016 |archive-date=January 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103162730/https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/partisan-fb-pages-analysis |url-status=live }} In the run-up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, The New York Times reported that Occupy Democrats "twisted facts to push a critical narrative about Republicans".{{cite news |last1=Alba |first1=Davey |author-link1=Davey Alba |title=Riled Up: Misinformation Stokes Calls for Violence on Election Day |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/technology/viral-misinformation-violence-election.html |access-date=January 4, 2021 |work=New York Times |date=October 29, 2020 |archive-date=November 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106091713/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/technology/viral-misinformation-violence-election.html |url-status=live }}
In 2017, PolitiFact included Occupy Democrats in its list of fake news websites. However, PolitiFact later removed Occupy Democrats from its list of fake news sites and, according to the Miami New Times, "admitted Occupy Democrats should never have been on the list in the first place".{{Cite news |url=http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/politifact-removes-fake-news-tag-from-occupy-democrats-showing-difficulty-of-fact-checking-role-9709463 |title=How PolitiFact Got Its "Fake News" Tag Wrong on Occupy Democrats |last=Shammas |first=Brittany |date=October 2, 2017 |work=Miami New Times |access-date=April 17, 2018 |archive-date=April 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411042719/http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/politifact-removes-fake-news-tag-from-occupy-democrats-showing-difficulty-of-fact-checking-role-9709463 |url-status=live }} As of December 2020, PolitiFact classified 62% of 16 posts shared by Occupy Democrats it had evaluated as "not accurate".{{cite web |title=Occupy Democrats |url=https://www.politifact.com/personalities/occupy-democrats/ |website=PolitiFact |publisher=Poynter Institute |access-date=December 16, 2020 |archive-date=January 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140119141541/http://www.politifact.com/personalities/occupy-democrats/ |url-status=bot: unknown }} A further 31% it considered "half-true".
In 2021, a post shared by Occupy Democrats claimed Nikki Haley had changed her first name to sound more "white" in order to further her political career. A fact check column by USA Today reported that Nikki was her legal middle name, she had used it as a given name since childhood, and that it was of ethnic Punjabi origin.{{cite news |last1=Vercellone |first1=Chiara |title=Fact check: Nikki Haley didn't 'white-wash' her name. It's Punjabi |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/05/05/fact-check-haley-didnt-white-wash-her-name-nikki-punjabi/4928061001/ |access-date=May 5, 2021 |work=USA Today |date=May 16, 2021 |archive-date=October 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010180246/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/05/05/fact-check-haley-didnt-white-wash-her-name-nikki-punjabi/4928061001/ |url-status=live }} The same year, Snopes rated "False" a claim by Occupy Democrats that "Republican Congress members had abjectly failed to applaud Biden’s stated goal of drastically reducing the rate of child poverty in the United States" during that year's State of the Union address.{{cite news |last1=MacGuill |first1=Dan |title=Did 'Not a Single Republican' Clap When Biden Mentioned Cutting Child Poverty? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/republicans-clapped-child-poverty/ |access-date=April 30, 2021 |work=Snopes |date=May 16, 2021 |archive-date=March 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325211121/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/republicans-clapped-child-poverty/ |url-status=live }}
In April 2022, Occupy Democrats claimed that U.S. Senate candidate Josh Mandel had posted to social media a manipulated photo of himself showing his head on the body of a Black woman.{{cite news |last=McCarthy |first=Bill |date=April 7, 2022 |title=No evidence Josh Mandel photoshopped his face onto body of Black Marine for campaign ad |url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/apr/07/occupy-democrats/no-evidence-josh-mandel-photoshopped-picture-black/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220724023922/https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/apr/07/occupy-democrats/no-evidence-josh-mandel-photoshopped-picture-black/ |archive-date=July 24, 2022 |access-date=July 23, 2022 |work=PolitiFact}} The Mandel campaign claimed the assertion was "totally false," independent experts were unable to find signs of manipulation in the image, and PolitiFact rated the claim as "unproven" and "false".
In July 2022, Occupy Democrats posted a photo of Ginni Thomas holding a bottle of wine along with a false caption that the photo was a recent one and showed her celebrating the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, though the photo actually predated the decision by several years.{{cite news |title=Fact Check-Image of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and wife Ginni Thomas holding a bottle of wine predates leak of Roe v. Wade opinion |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-thomas-bottle-idUSL2N2XA2RT |access-date=July 23, 2022 |work=Snopes |date=May 18, 2022 |archive-date=July 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220724023255/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-thomas-bottle-idUSL2N2XA2RT |url-status=live }} The following month, the Associated Press reported that Occupy Democrats "misinterpreted the content of ... [a] Pentagon [press] release" to incorrectly claim that United States President Joe Biden would "not recognize any anti-abortion laws enacted by states" in relation to U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.{{cite news |last1=MacGuill |first1=Dan |title=A look at what didn't happen this week |url=https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-science-health-d11342c7568bbcd047a18ca063bf4b79 |access-date=July 23, 2022 |work=Associated Press |date=July 1, 2022 |archive-date=July 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220724023255/https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-science-health-d11342c7568bbcd047a18ca063bf4b79 |url-status=live }}
In March 2023, Occupy Democrats posted content to its social media channels that claimed "156 congressional Republicans … just voted to RAISE the retirement age to 70 {{sic}}"; Occupy Democrats' source for the information was a social media post by Twitter user "trom771".{{cite news |last1=Gore |first1=D'Angelo |title=Liberal Group's Meme Mentions Nonexistent GOP Vote to Raise Social Security's Retirement Age |url=https://www.factcheck.org/2023/03/liberal-groups-meme-mentions-nonexistent-gop-vote-to-raise-social-securitys-retirement-age/ |access-date=March 31, 2023 |work=FactCheck.org |date=March 6, 2023 |archive-date=March 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331072633/https://www.factcheck.org/2023/03/liberal-groups-meme-mentions-nonexistent-gop-vote-to-raise-social-securitys-retirement-age/ |url-status=live }} FactCheck.org marked the claim as false, while USA Today reported it "found no credible news reports of any such vote taken by Republican congressional members".{{cite news |last1=Kochi |first1=Sudiksha |title=Fact check: Misleading claim about Republicans voting to raise retirement age to 70 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/03/14/fact-check-misleading-claim-republican-retirement-age-proposal/11436726002/ |access-date=March 31, 2023 |work=USA Today |date=March 14, 2023 |archive-date=March 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331072631/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/03/14/fact-check-misleading-claim-republican-retirement-age-proposal/11436726002/ |url-status=live }} Later that year, Occupy Democrats shared social media content that, according to USA Today, falsely claimed Donald Trump increased that United States debt more than any president in history.{{cite news |last1=Kochi |first1=Sudiksha |title=False claim Trump increased debt more than any president – Fact check |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/05/30/no-trump-didnt-increase-the-debt-more-than-any-president-fact-check/70252480007/ |access-date=January 11, 2024 |work=USA Today |date=May 2023 |archive-date=January 12, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240112031929/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/05/30/no-trump-didnt-increase-the-debt-more-than-any-president-fact-check/70252480007/ |url-status=live }} Occupy Democrats also shared social media content that, according to FactCheck.org, misleadingly claimed "that guns were not allowed at the NRA convention and an upcoming GOP event in Utah".{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Brea |title=Posts Mislead on Rules for Guns at NRA Convention, Utah GOP Event |url=https://www.factcheck.org/2023/04/posts-mislead-on-rules-for-guns-at-nra-convention-utah-gop-event/ |access-date=April 21, 2023 |work=Factcheck.org |date=January 11, 2024 |archive-date=April 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422093603/https://www.factcheck.org/2023/04/posts-mislead-on-rules-for-guns-at-nra-convention-utah-gop-event/ |url-status=live }}
In May 2024, Occupy Democrats posted content to its Facebook page that claimed Donald Trump "told TIME Magazine that in his second term as president he’d force every pregnant woman to submit to constant government monitoring".{{cite news |last1=Frank |first1=BrieAnna |title=False claim Trump said he'd force government monitoring on pregnant women |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2024/05/03/trump-abortion-monitoring-time-fact-check/73544833007/ |access-date=June 24, 2024 |work=USA Today |date=May 3, 2024}} A fact-check by USA Today found that claim to be "False" and clarified that, while Trump did discuss abortion with TIME, "he didn't push for monitoring or even say whether he was for or against the concept".
==Popular perception==
In a 2017 survey among US readers, Occupy Democrats was voted the "least trusted news source" among American readers, just below Breitbart News and BuzzFeed.{{cite journal |last1=Ruddick |first1=Graham |title=Four UK news sources among top 10 most trusted in US – survey |journal=The Guardian |date=August 9, 2017 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/aug/09/four-uk-news-sources-among-top-10-most-trusted-in-us-survey |access-date=August 21, 2017 |archive-date=October 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011165643/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/aug/09/four-uk-news-sources-among-top-10-most-trusted-in-us-survey |url-status=live }} In September 2018, the English Wikipedia deprecated Occupy Democrats as a source due to its unreliability.{{Cite web |last=Cole |first=Samantha |date=March 10, 2018 |title=Wikipedia Bans Right Wing Site Breitbart as a Source for Facts |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/wikipedia-banned-breitbart-infowars/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220613142817/https://www.vice.com/en/article/pa9qvv/wikipedia-banned-breitbart-infowars |archive-date=2022-06-13 |access-date=February 5, 2021 |website=Vice |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Benjakob |first=Omer |date=January 9, 2020 |title=Why Wikipedia Is Much More Effective Than Facebook at Fighting Fake News |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2020-01-09/ty-article/.premium/why-wikipedia-is-much-more-effective-than-facebook-at-fighting-fake-news/0000017f-e959-d639-af7f-e9df233d0000 |access-date=2022-08-23 |archive-date=October 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013110806/https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2020-01-09/ty-article/.premium/why-wikipedia-is-much-more-effective-than-facebook-at-fighting-fake-news/0000017f-e959-d639-af7f-e9df233d0000 |url-status=live }} In an October 2018 Simmons Research survey of 38 news organizations, Occupy Democrats was ranked the third least-trusted news organization by Americans, underneath Breitbart News, the Daily Kos and the Palmer Report, with InfoWars and The Daily Caller being lower-ranked.{{Cite web|last=Benton|first=Joshua|author-link=Joshua Benton|date=October 5, 2018|title=Here's how much Americans trust 38 major news organizations (hint: not all that much!)|url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2018/10/heres-how-much-americans-trust-38-major-news-organizations-hint-not-all-that-much/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208001945/https://www.niemanlab.org/2018/10/heres-how-much-americans-trust-38-major-news-organizations-hint-not-all-that-much/|archive-date=December 8, 2020|access-date=July 1, 2021|website=Nieman Lab}}
Notes
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References
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External links
- {{Official website|https://occupydemocrats.com/}}
- [https://washingtonpress.com/ Washington Press]
- [http://www.politifact.com/personalities/occupy-democrats/ Occupy Democrats's file] at PolitiFacts
- [https://www.snopes.com/tag/occupy-democrats/ Posts related to Occupy Democrats] at Snopes.com
Category:American news websites
Category:Fake news in the United States
Category:Internet properties established in 2012
Category:Left-wing politics in the United States