Last week in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling in a 6-3 decision to strike down the use of race-based criteria in college admissions, the Very Online Left went nuts, with a provocative tweet from one account in particular getting a lot of attention and going viral.
A Twitter account with the name “Erica Marsh” and a bio that read “Proud Democrat: Former Field Organizer to elect President Biden. Volunteer for the Obama Foundation. (She/Her) 💙,” tweeted, “Today’s Supreme Court decision is a direct attack on Black people. No Black person will be able to succeed in a merit-based system which is exactly why affirmative-action based programs were needed. Today’s decision is a TRAVESTY!!!”
As Legal Insurrection documented at the time in a post titled “‘Proud’ Dem’s Racist Reaction to SCOTUS Affirmative Action Ruling Has Folks Wondering Progressive or Parody?,” the racist tweet provoked strong reactions, particularly among black conservatives like Candace Owens, Bo Snerdley, Leo Terrell and others who were quick to point out that the account was in so many words saying the “quiet part out loud” about what Democrats really thought about the black community.
As we also noted in our report, because the tweet was not that far off from something a woke Democrat would actually write it had people wondering if it was a parody or bot, especially leftists who perhaps were embarrassed that it hit a little too close to the mark as to their true colors.
In an update to this story, the account has been suspended, presumably due to research done that allegedly shows that the account is a “bot” account.
Podcaster Greg Boulden detailed his findings in a Twitter thread purporting to identify someone allegedly connected:
In an update to his original Twitter postings on the subject, Boulden wrote this:
A follow up to clarify before bed.This image is what mines back to rhinestone. The website linked to http://Michael-zachrau.de – this is “Erica Marsh” which leads to his name being linked behind the liberal tweeting bot that based off who she followed and mapping linked to likely being funded as a manufactured outrage account.I have no evidence that @michaelzachrau is or was Erica, nor did I claim that anywhere. (I also didn’t tag him originally because I don’t even know what his real Twitter account is – he commented, so tagging him here) i did state – “Michael Zachrau is behind the liberal dystopian bot triggering conservatives”. Meaning – that website has the “image” being used of Erica. I simply want to know why his company is linked to this – the website is his name?Before Twitter loses their conspiracy theory minds, let’s stick to the facts and hear directly from him. I’ve asked him for a comment. People claiming this is him, missed the entire point of what I posted.It doesn’t matter ultimately what his role is (perhaps his company bought AI images and just happened to have hers) – although he deserves accuracy, fairness, and truth. What matters is she was a fake, and the image and idea came from somewhere – and it manipulated millions.
It appears the “Michael Zachrau” in question does have a Twitter account, and not only did he post some bizarre responses to critics in demanding they prove the accusation that he is in some way tied to the Marsh account but he has also threatened to sue Boulden for “defamation”:
It was an interesting choice of words to say the list, considering that in the midst of being accused of being a parody, the Marsh account at one point put out a request for legal representation on defamation grounds:
An especially interesting thing about all of this is that even though it sounded like a bot or parody, there were tweets that came from it that were pretty standard fare for leftists influencer accounts that are run by real people like Occupy Democrats, which notoriously always asks for RTs:
Whatever the case may be as to who was behind the fake Erica Marsh account, it’s a troubling yet timely reminder that in 2024, just like it was in the 2016 and 2020 presidential election years, the fake accounts are making their presence known in large numbers while also making it increasingly harder to detect what’s real and what’s not, and it’s only going to get worse the closer we get to Election Day.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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