Rising Election Denial Theories: Now Emerging from the Left

In the moments following the 2024 U.S. presidential election, new theories about election fraud began circulating on social media, this time originating from the political left after Donald Trump's victory was announced on Wednesday.

According to research by PeakMetrics, there was a dramatic increase in posts questioning the election's integrity and urging a recount early Wednesday. At its peak around midday, Elon Musk's X platform saw these posts surge to about 94,000 per hour, with many garnering millions of views.

A notable post by author John Pavlovitz, viewed over 5 million times, questioned the claim of record voter turnout against a purported drop in vote counts.

Gordon Crovitz, CEO of NewsGuard, reported that accusations of 'Trump cheated' were trending significantly on X, with over 92,000 mentions since the early hours of Wednesday.

Although the specifics of these theories are still evolving, the supporters of the losing candidate Kamala Harris have been using these narratives to claim election malpractices, similar to past baseless allegations.

Nina Jankowicz, once a disinformation advisor for the Biden administration, emphasizes that misinformation undermines democracy regardless of its political origin, leading to long-term trust issues.

Multiple posts utilized hashtags like #donotconcedekamala, suggesting the notion of 'something being off,' and erroneously mentioned 20 million 'missing votes.'

At the time of reporting, the Associated Press acknowledged a vote tally 16 million below 2020 figures, mainly because not all votes had been counted.

David Becker, of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, countered this misinformation, asserting that millions of votes were yet to be counted, bringing 2024's total in line with previous elections.

Data from PeakMetrics reveal that the debunked theories gained notable traction around 2 am Eastern, coinciding with Trump's declared win.

Despite the early predictions, these narratives continued to spread even as the nation slept, suggesting a combination of intense interest and possible automated activity.

Unlike prior election denial efforts, this surge lacks support from Harris herself, who has openly called for respecting the results and committed to a peaceful transition.

The rise of left-leaning disinformation, often dubbed 'BlueAnon,' reflects a pattern noticed earlier this year in opposition to Trump.

Expert Mike Rothschild warns of the allure of conspiracy theories in improbable events, though he stresses the facts do not support claims of missing millions of votes or foreign interference in the election outcome.

In contrast to 2020, when Trump's loss spawned numerous conspiracies, this year's election result hasn't drawn similar unfounded narratives from known election denialists.

Prominent conspiracy theorist Dinesh D'Souza capitalized on the 'missing votes' story to reignite debates about the 2020 election, despite his claims being previously discredited.

Right-wing commentator Benny Johnson echoed similar sentiments, viewing their posts millions of times, fueling further division and speculation.

Within private forums like Telegram and WhatsApp, proponents of these theories express satisfaction over supposedly preventing election fraud, echoing sentiments reminiscent of wartime efforts.