Influencers have fractured reality in Portland
TL;DR
Social media influencers have distorted reality in Portland by spreading misinformation, influencing federal policy on domestic terrorism, and impacting the legal case over troop deployment. Their content has directly reached officials, complicating judicial decisions.
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The legal fight over whether the president can send troops into Portland, Oregon, depends on whether judges believe their own eyes or their smartphones.
Even before inception, the lawsuit has been dogged by a war on reality fueled by social media influencers, some of whom have direct lines to federal officials. At every turn, influencers and the imperatives of content creation have been an inextricable though not always visible part of the National Guard case. The influencers have broadcast their content directly to figures in the administration, they have shaped national policy around "domestic terrorism," and they have seeped into the le …