Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn't tweet this demand that Instagram delete a conservative account

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has tweeted about misinformation before, including in 2021 when she alerted her followers to a “false tweet that’s been photoshopped to look like I sent out a call for a ‘purge.’” A similar doctored image is circulating on social media now.  “Instagram needs to TERMINATE @realbrooklynp8triot They are a right-wing media page posting CONSERVATIVE content! Their page is full of misinformation. DO NOT follow them! Why is Instagram allowing this?,” the supposed tweet says.  An Instagram post sharing the image, and urging people to follow the account in the fake tweet, was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.) The first clue that this isn’t an authentic tweet? Ocasio-Cortez’s name in the image. While it shows the same Twitter handle, @AOC, and blue verified check mark, whoever edited this forgot the hyphen between Ocasio-Cortez’s surname.  The tweet doesn’t appear on her account, and in looking for credible news reports and responses from people about her effort to have Instagram ban someone, we found no evidence that she ever tweeted such a demand. We did
Read More