Harris-Walz Discord locked down after user leaks chats, claims server runs social media manipulation effort
A Discord server run by the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris appears to have been locked down after a right-wing media outlet accused its members of manipulating social media posts.
Anyone attempting to join the server, titled "Team Harris Walz Virtual Office." on Wednesday was met with a message indicating that it had been closed to new members.
"Invites are currently paused for this server," the message states. "Please try again later."
The server, according to Harris's campaign website, allows anyone with a Discord account to "communicate with Team Harris-Walz about ways to take action, hear about upcoming events and build community with other supporters."
Primarily used by campaign volunteers, the server asks members upon joining numerous questions, including whether they're hosting pro-Harris events in their community or working to "combat disinformation on Twitter."
In an article for the conservative outlet the Federalist on Wednesday, the popular X user known as "Reddit Lies" accused the Harris campaign of "manipulating social media sites to artificially boost their popularity, spread election disinformation, and skirt election laws."
In one example, a member of the server is shown asking volunteers to downvote a Community Note on X that accuses the Harris campaign account @KamalaHQ of taking a comment from Trump out of context.
The comment in question involves Trump referring to his political opponents as the "enemy within" while speaking in Doral, Florida last week. In response, Trump supporters and the Federalist cited a totally separate comment from another event that week in Miami, Florida, in which Trump says those who leak government secrets could be the "enemy within," as proof that the first comment was taken out of context.
A Community Note does not currently appear on the clip, indicating that it was downvoted enough to not be approved. Conversely, the Federalist piece also accuses the Discord of working to upvote Community Notes on Trump-aligned posts.
The Harris campaign seems to have noticed. Aside from apparently closing down invitations to the server, Reddit Lies, the author of the article, also says he was banned.
Reddit Lies appears to have archived and published the contents of the server before he was booted.
"The Harris-Walz volunteer discord server just banned my account," the user said on X. "We expected this. That's why we quietly archived the server over the past week and are now releasing the files to the broader public."
While some might frame the Federalist's complaints as purely partisan, CNN last month published a piece accusing the Harris campaign of repeatedly deceiving the public "with misleading edits and captions" on social media.
The Harris campaign has not publicly commented on the situation with its Discord server at this time.
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