The rapid rise of the Twitter account Accidentally Based surprised even the person who created it. One of many so-called gimmick accounts, Accidentally Based was started as a left-wing response to conservative meme accounts that the creator noticed tended to grow quickly. Just a month after making Accidentally Based, the account had 100,000 followers, the owner estimates, and was getting retweeted by Twitter users with hundreds of thousands of followers themselves. What began as an experiment soon proved to be a reliable way to get content in front of millions.
“I figured it was worth a shot, and maybe I’d be able to have some influence on the left,” the account creator says about starting Accidentally Based. “It didn’t feel like there were many left-wing accounts like that.”
But despite millions of impressions and efforts to build relationships with power players on and offline, the account’s real-world influence is minuscule, the account’s owner says. Influencers and politicians on the left rarely, if ever, respond to their messages offering help and proposing collaborations. And they’re worlds away from their right-wing counterparts that are influencing public policy and media cycles, like the ongoing firestorm around the viral Libs of TikTok account.
Accidentally Based reposts screenshots of right-wing and conservative social media posts that inadvertently make a progressive or leftist point. The topics range from anti-trans rhetoric to whether the US should raise the minimum wage, but the common thread is that the poster is oblivious to the fact that their argument benefits the other side. The tweets regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of likes and retweets, becoming easy fodder to point and laugh at.
In one post, a TikTok user with a Blue Lives Matter profile picture questions why pads and tampons should be free just because half the population uses them. By that standard, the commenter asks sarcastically, shouldn’t food and water be free, too, if everyone needs it? Unbeknownst to the TikTok commenter, Accidentally Based and its followers would agree.
Accidentally Based is just one example of a type of anonymously run Twitter account, often referred to as gimmick accounts. The accounts typically have a specific kind of content they repost and are usually pulled from a variety of sources — Facebook comments, tweets, TikTok videos, and elsewhere — and much of it is user submitted. The crowdsourced nature of the content means celebrities and elected officials might be featured alongside someone’s QAnon uncle without a public platform.
Aggregation accounts exist across the political spectrum and for more benign topics, too, like Poorly Aged Things or Brands Getting Owned. Other accounts like Racism Watchdog and Yes, You’re Racist are often summoned by followers underneath racist tweets, sort of like a bat signal to have them weigh in and bring attention to the offending post.
Many of these accounts are run anonymously despite enormous followings, and some of them have played a central role in politics beyond racking up retweets. Libs of TikTok, a viral account amplifying anti-LGBTQ talking points, has been credited with inspiring legislation like Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. When a story by The Washington Postrevealed the identity of the Libs of TikTok creator last week, right-wing politicians and influencers quickly jumped to creator Chaya Raichik’s defense.
Celebrities like Lil Nas X and political advocacy groups like the Gravel Institute are among Accidentally Based’s followers, but the creator of the account says they’ve struggled to get influencers and politicians to acknowledge them the way the right has incorporated Libs of TikTok into its platform and talking points. While Raichik’s account has been embraced by the right, the Accidentally Based account owner says their own efforts on the left have been rebuffed — they’ve messaged politicians, influencers, and other political actors and offered to strategize on social media messaging and spread policy goals to their enormous audience but rarely get a response, much less interest.
Another person, who runs the left-wing gimmick Twitter account The Right Can’t Meme, told The Verge via DMs that though they haven’t reached out to left-wing influencers or politicians themselves, they would be happy to help if there’s interest — it just hasn’t happened yet.
Meanwhile, the right has mechanized the use of gimmick accounts as another conduit for their politics in a way that left-wing contemporaries aren’t able to do so far.
“It actually bothers us a bit how the right-wing ecosystem seems geared towards pumping up these accounts and making them as popular as possible,” Accidentally Based says. Other right-wing meme accounts have received boosts in the past, they say, with influencers and political operatives retweeting, mentioning, and coming to their defense. When Defiant L’s — an account that shares composite memes of liberal politicians and influencers appearing to contradict themselves — was briefly suspended earlier this year, the rightralliedaround it.
“The thing they’re doing with Libs of TikTok now, they did a month ago with the Defiant L’s account,” Accidentally Based says.
The person who runs Accidentally Based has made multiple viral gimmick accounts — they also run Conservatives Getting Owned, followed by more than 380,000 people. Despite their enormous digital reach (a combined one million followers, plus tens of millions of impressions a month), the person running Accidentally Based feels their influence is largely untapped. For one, they don’t make money off of their following beside a Ko-fi account that has pulled in about $10. The dopamine hit of selecting posts destined to go viral is satisfying, but the ripple effects are contained on the platform.
“I don’t feel like I’ve done much actual real-world good with it,” they say about the account. But the potential is there.
For Accidentally Based, the Libs of TikTok effect is both a model and a warning. They’d like to see leftist gimmick accounts have the same influence as their right-wing counterparts, but they draw a line at sharing false or misleading information, as Libs of TikTok did. Libs of TikTok’s prior anonymity didn’t bother Accidentally Based as much as the pipeline from false information to public policy — and Accidentally Based remains anonymous to avoid harassment spilling into their private life. The same applies to the random individuals featured on their feed: when someone who was featured in one of their posts messaged them that they were receiving harassment, Accidentally Based went back and deleted the tweet.
“I really don’t post anything that controversial, but since I am political, people on Twitter are really crazy and insane.”
To the person who runs The Right Can’t Meme, the pipeline itself isn’t an issue, saying there’s little distinction between an account like Libs of TikTok and influencers like Dave Rubin or Tim Pool. If anything, they say they’d like to see the left utilize the network of accounts more.
“I don’t think my account is the type that could exert such influence because I pretty much exclusively post memes, but it would be awesome if the left had more influential accounts like that.”
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
