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GOP Campaign Staffer Resigns After Spreading ‘Fake News’ of Sandy Disaster on Twitter

Oct. 31, 2012 9:03am

While many around the country may be aware of the fake photos that circulated on social media during Hurricane Sandy as it hit the East Coast early in the week, this wasn’t the only misinformation being spread during a particularly vulnerable time. In fact, the updates of one Twitter user were more damaging from a fear mongering standpoint, and the Internet, in true form, didn’t let it stand for long.

During the storm, the user with the Twitter handle @comfortablysmug was keeping followers abreast of the devastating situation unfolding in New York City. Unfortunately, much of what he tweeted were false rumors mixed in with factual information. It has become common practice for news outlets to glean some information from Twitter because these users can be anywhere and everywhere at once. But inevitably, this information is not always vetted as accurate right away. Some were taken in by @comfortablysmug’s tweets and, as Kashmir Hill on Forbes puts it, are ”now eager to crucify him.”

@comfortablysmug Spreads False Updates During Hurricane Outed As Congressional Campaigner

Screenshot of @comfortablysmug’s Twitter profile.

Although the Internet seems to offer a sense of anonymity, that’s quickly becoming a thing of the past because of those saavy enough to do a little digging. In @comfortablysmug’s case, Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski was one of them. Kaczynski called out @comfortablysmug for “tweeting fake news,” and the offender even tweeted back early in the game that he expected an apology from @BuzzfeedAndrew for these accusations. But the apology would soon come from him.

@comfortablysmug, who has more than 6,500 followers, was outed as a manager for the congressional campaign of Republican Christopher Wright for New York’s 12th Congressional District, as he noted in his resignation post tweeted after 10 p.m. EST Tuesday night. Buzzfeed reported @comfortablysmug was found to be Shashank Tripathi, after some sleuthing revealed censored pictures on his site that elsewhere were found uncensored.

@comfortablysmug Spreads False Updates During Hurricane Outed As Congressional Campaigner

Tripathi’s resignation tweet. (Image: @comfortablysmug)

The 29-year-old who tweeted falsely that the NYSE floor had flooded (which outlets such as CNN and The Weather Channel picked up), that Con Edison was shutting down all power to Manhattan and that New York’s Metro Transit Authority said the subway would not reopen for a week (which could actually happen but wasn’t confirmed at the time) said in his apology that his tweets were “irresponsible and inaccurate.”

@comfortablysmug Spreads False Updates During Hurricane Outed As Congressional Campaigner

Tripathi’s false tweets have been deleted from his account, but Buzzfeed has this collection of them. (Image: Buzzfeed)

“I deeply regret any distress or harm they may have caused,” Tripathi, who works (or worked) for the consulting firm Stone Street Advisors, wrote.

Tripathi’s actions have a strong lesson associated with them. Although he might have considered his tweets harmful, given their timing and nature, Buzzfeed in another post notes that New York City Councilman Peter Vallone was getting involved:

“I’m glad he apologized,” said Vallone, a former assistant district attorney who represents Astoria, in Queens. “I think the consideration of criminal charges will assure this kind of stuff doesn’t happen again.”

Vallone told BuzzFeed that “the Manhattan DA is taking this very seriously.” But he conceded that “it’s a very difficult case to make.”

Buzzfeed’s Jack Stuef also called Stone Street Advisors, the blog for which Tripathi links to on his Twitter profile, and learned from the hedge fund’s founder Jordan Terry that “Smug” will not write for the blog anymore, but had no comment further on the situation.

Tripathi is also seeing full Internet wrath, as noted in some of the harsh comments associated with his tweeted apology.

The other lesson to learn here, as Hill on Forbes writes, is that while there is a benefit to fast-moving social media like Twitter — “you see events through the eyes of people experiencing them” — it can’t always be trusted.

“If your initial reaction is, ‘Can this be real?’, trust that instinct,” Hill says.

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Comments (43)

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  • NewYorkDan
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 5:13pm

    But wait… this is some of the MSM reports and, well, THEY did say this:

    ABC News’ Eric Noll reports:
    New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo described the scene in Lower Manhattan and at the World Trade Center Memorial Monday night as “frightening,” but said today that things were looking much better and that the city would quickly come back from Hurricane Sandy.
    “It was all dark because [Con Edison] had turned off the power. And the water. The Hudson River was just a few hundred yards to the right from us. It had come over the banks. … And was filling this site [at the World Trade Center Memorial] at such a rate and from every direction,” he said today. “You were just wondering when it was going to stop. … We could not have taken much more of the flow that we were getting last night.”

    And…

    From DailyMail.co.uk,
    The New York Stock Exchange suffered unprecedented damage during Superstorm Sandy, it emerged this morning.
    Amid the chaos that left all of downtown Manhattan without power and much of it drowned in rising waters, NYSE officials were forced to close the iconic building.

    This doesn’t relieve the Dipstick Tripathi of being dumber than a MSM Democrat. He had 635 retweets. Compare against MSM reach. This does show their painting a situation “BAD” so Bama could look like a “Good Hero”. When it comes to lying and cheating, Bam, the MSM and their ilk have that cold! MSM has blood on their hands.

    Report this comment

    NewYorkDan  
  • blackyb
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 3:21pm

    This is a donkey in elephants’ clothings. He is an embarrassment, so get rid of his kind.

    Report this comment

    blackyb  
  • blackyb
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 3:19pm

    We do not want liars in the GOP, there is enough of them everywhere. This clown would make a good Demon crat. If the truth is not bad enough, this clown has to add to the destruction.,

    Report this comment

    blackyb  
  • JRook
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 2:02pm

    What’s the surprise Romney and Ryan have been spreading false information throughout the campaign. The latest being Romney’s claim that the PRESIDENT was shipping Jeep jobs to China…. of course the facts are the Chrysler is increasing jobs in Ohio and expanding the Plant they have in China that builds Jeeps for the Asia region.

    Report this comment

    JRook  
  • Livia
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 1:48pm

    He has to be a liberal…….full of lies and exaggeration.

    Report this comment

    Livia  
  • BasketFullOfPuppies
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 12:00pm

    So often, the right is accused by the left of doing things that the left actually is doing.

    We need to be better people in order to prove our case. He may as well be one of “them”. “We” ARE better than that.

    Report this comment

    BasketFullOfPuppies  
  • Ivabig1
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 11:24am

    Guess this qualifies him to work for the MSM.

    Report this comment

    Ivabig1  
  • Smug
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 10:52am

    I don’t know who this young man is, but I like the name “comfortably smug.” I would like to know, why would someone go to tweeter to get “accurate news information.” And now Vallone, a former assistant district attorney is considering criminal charges? For this! One would think they could find better use of their time. If they wanted to get down to brass tacks on false news stories. What about some of the media outlets, that let a false story about the terrorist attack on our Ambassador (that resulted in four deaths) run for nearly two weeks! That’s something to get upset about…….MSSMUG

    Report this comment

    Smug  
  • chingachgook
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 10:37am

    This just seems goofy, like others have stated this guy just likes to hear himself.

    Report this comment

    chingachgook  
  • EtchASketch
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 10:20am

    Stay classy, GOP!

    Report this comment

    EtchASketch  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on October 31, 2012 at 10:38am

      Obama murders four Americans in Bengazi. Then lies about claiming to trying to save them. DEMOCRATS give Obama a pass, for killing four Americans
      Stay classy DEMOCRATS

      Report this comment

      13th Imam  
  • ecbuck
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 10:11am

    I don’t understand two things.
    1) Why mention his affiliation? This had nothing to do with politics or the campaign
    2) What was his motivation?

    Report this comment

    ecbuck  
  • BenInNY
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 10:08am

    Hold up. By the sound of things, he got taken in by the false reports and passed them on. People are acting as if he’s the one making these things up and deliberately misleading. If this was the standard for resigning from your position then no one should be left in the mainstream media or politics.

    Report this comment

    BenInNY  
  • loreell
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 10:02am

    Wow, This guy is going to be lambasted but yet Media Mongers like CNN and MSNBC can still spew their garbage and no one says a word…How lope-sided is that!!!!!

    Report this comment

    loreell  
  • Wool-Free Vision
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 10:01am

    What the hell? Over 67,000 tweets????? Who the hell are these people who tweet that much? This jackass obviously likes to hear himself talk/see himself tweet.

    I am floored that someone with a full-time job has authored that many tweets.

    His page must be FILLED with crap like, “I’m feeling a little nervous about this fart I’m holding. I think it may be gathering momentum and will emerge as a shart. More in next tweet.” and “Whew! No shart this time, but I gotta put the wallpaper back up. Note to self: No more nuclear burritos from Pepito’s without bandages and Febreze.”

    Report this comment

    Wool-Free Vision  
    • BenInNY
      Posted on October 31, 2012 at 10:11am

      Hah, well I have 17K over the past 4 years, but I took about two years off in there somewhere. I must confess though, there may have been a couple shart tweets in there.

      Report this comment

      BenInNY  
  • yesigettheirony
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:48am

    Social Media has allowed playground gossip to instantly go global. We have become so starved for attention and acceptance that our “voices” get louder and the stories get more extraordinary…”look at me look at me! I’m relevant!” Truth be damned- look at me. Get caught embellishing? Offer an apology and move on…Seems the people that rely on social media for news and then are all indignant when the news turns out to be inaccurate or flat out wrong, they get what they deserve. Again, news from social media is nothing more than gossip spread a whole lot faster than “back in the day”. Yes it may be a great place to get leads on breaking news but you have to use some common sense.

    Report this comment

    yesigettheirony  
  • dscheerer
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:45am

    It’s no different than trying to collect eyewitness information on an incident. How much of it is true, how much of it is misconception and how much of it is fabrication?

    Twitter may be a very convenient way to get info fast, but definitely take all you read with a grain of salt. I remember a pic that was shared on Twitter after the NYC earthquake. The user claimed that the damage in the pic was a result of the earthquake. Having been born and raised in CA, I knew that there was no way it could be true. I blasted him for it.

    I am sure that this guy wasn’t the only one embellishing his tweets during the disastrous situation. Do you think the outcry for his head on a platter would be so great if he weren’t a GOP campaign staffer?

    Report this comment

    dscheerer  
  • Mapache
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:40am

    According to Anthony Weiner, somebody took over his twitter account and an investigation will reveal what’s up.

    Report this comment

    Mapache  
  • Sharon Rose
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:36am

    MSM does this all the time…

    Report this comment

    Sharon Rose  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:16am

    So this guy apologizes for some rumors mixed with fact what about the msm in this country? They didn’t vet BO prior to 08 and they still won’t cover all the scandals in this regime.Maybe Tripathi can write Barrys autobiography after the Marxist POS is fired.

    Report this comment

    progressiveslayer  
  • Mr.Fitnah
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:15am

    Twitter makes people sound like they are drunk It should be avoided.

    Report this comment

    Mr.Fitnah  
  • UNALIEN
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:15am

    If he was a DEM he would have been promoted

    Report this comment

    UNALIEN  
  • dsd13130
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:14am

    I don’t want the media to be using tweets as news sources without verification either…that’s pretty lazy! If we are to use tweets are facts, what do we need the media for?’

    Now, I’m off to read the story behind the headline about someone at Buzzfeed with a live mic.

    Report this comment

    dsd13130  
  • commonsenseguy
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:13am

    idoit!!!!! when you lie,you have to lie to cover up that lie and so on,caught what he deserved,to bad he is the only one because there a lot of left wing lairs out there but because they are left leaning obama lovers,lying is common place an accepted but not from the right, double stander’s.

    Report this comment

    commonsenseguy  
  • TheMajority
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:12am

    If the Gop or Dem party wanted to turn around the decline of the USA, all they have to do is explain to the people that “Capitalism belongs to the Citizenry–every one of us”.

    But they do crap like this instead, and not a damn one of them will explain truth to you.

    I think we can all agree, that it is the 2-party system that drags Americans to communism.

    Report this comment

    TheMajority  
  • G.E.R
    Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:11am

    False rumors mixed in with factual information is common practice for The Blaze. This guy must have been one of their’s

    Report this comment

    G.E.R  
    • randy
      Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:16am

      Yeah, jus like the Video was the reason for the 4 murders in Libya huh?

      Report this comment

      randy  
    • dscheerer
      Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:18am

      Then why are you here?

      Report this comment

      dscheerer  
    • Popp40
      Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:25am

      @ DSCHEERER…he is confused and thinks he is on MSNBC.com

      Report this comment

      Popp40  
    • K17CHELA
      Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:28am

      One knucklehead using twitter in a stupendously irresponsible manner doesn’t cancel out the massive continuous deceit that this White House expects to get away with concerning the fact that they sat and watched while your countrymen and mine were murdered in Benghazi .
      What about the full blown lies of Fast and Furious. What about the tsunami of deception that is Obamacare and Sequester ? Go cash your check from Soros and go buy yourself a pacifier your going to need it come election night.

      Report this comment

      K17CHELA  
    • starman70
      Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:45am

      YEAH! Like Facebook removed the SEALS post but left the Iranian / Assad post in place?

      Report this comment

      starman70  
    • G.E.R
      Posted on October 31, 2012 at 9:48am

      I visit this site because I can always use a good laugh while drinking my coffee.

      The right-wing monkeys of this country have pushed numerous myths about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and protests in the Middle East, from distorting the Obama administration’s response to the attacks to misleading about the nature of security at the Benghazi consulate. You people eat it up with both hands lick your fingers clean and reach for more.

      Report this comment

      G.E.R  
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