In just eight months, Erica Marsh has risen to fame on Twitter as a prominent left-wing voice, garnering over 130,000 followers for her strongly liberal and sometimes melodramatic opinions on major American news topics. Surprisingly, she has become especially popular among conservatives, who view her as an exaggerated representation of progressive activists. However, there is reason to believe that Erica Marsh may not actually exist.
Despite claiming to be a “proud Democrat” based in Washington, Erica Marsh cannot be found in any local phone or voting records. Additionally, reputable organizations like the Biden presidential campaign and the Obama Foundation have no record of her involvement. Her only other online presence is on TikTok, where she posts copies of her tweets without ever revealing her face or speaking. Furthermore, a digital-imaging expert has suggested that the few selfies she has shared on Twitter may have been digitally manipulated.
John Scott-Railton, a researcher at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto who focuses on online disinformation, strongly suspects that Erica Marsh is a fabrication. He believes that she appeared out of nowhere with a narrative that portrays liberals in a negative light. After The Washington Post raised concerns about her account, Twitter suspended it for unknown reasons.
Despite Elon Musk’s efforts to combat scammers and spam on Twitter, the tactic known as “attention farming” remains prevalent. Erica Marsh’s account employed a strategy called “rage baiting,” in which she posted highly polarizing and inflammatory content to provoke strong reactions from readers. This approach was famously used by Russian trolls during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. However, it is also utilized by domestic tricksters who seek to mock their political opponents or simply gain attention and a large follower base.
For months, Erica Marsh’s account raised suspicions among experts in online misinformation due to her lack of a real-world presence and her tendency to express exaggerated liberal views. Although her account was verified by Twitter, the verification process has become less reliable since Elon Musk’s involvement. When questioned about her authenticity, Erica Marsh dismissed doubts by claiming she was not a parody, fake, or robot. However, she refrained from sharing personal details, citing concerns about a stalker.
When it came to political commentary, Erica Marsh seized every opportunity to offer her opinion and encourage her followers to spread her message. She launched her account in September 2022 and rapidly gained followers by posting a series of left-leaning tweets and urging retweets. It remains unclear where the pictures on her account came from, but there are suspicions that they are stock images or altered photos from another person. Some of her tweets were found to be word-for-word copies of content from other left-wing accounts or trending tweets.
Erica Marsh became a subject of skepticism and fascination on Twitter, with theories suggesting that she was either a right-wing agitator, a foreign actor, or a data collection tool for Democratic voters. The scrutiny surrounding her account only fueled her audience and engagement. Although some of her tweets were extreme and mean-spirited, with one celebrating the death of a Jan. 6 rioter, conservatives used these posts to criticize the Biden administration based on her alleged involvement in his campaign.
In response to the criticism she faced, Erica Marsh defended her tweet about the affirmative-action decision, claiming it had been manipulated by “ULTRA MAGA” for propaganda and misinformation. The authenticity of her account was not called into question until it was suspended by Twitter. Simon Ateba, a correspondent for Today News Africa, confirmed that he had no reason to doubt Erica Marsh’s account until its suspension. He noted that it is natural to assume that the information provided on social media profiles is true.
A former employee of Twitter’s trust and safety department, who investigated accounts for impersonation and authentication, revealed that the company experienced an influx of accounts from North Macedonia in October 2022. These accounts posed as pro-Trump influencers and employed the same style of over-the-top, clickbait tweets. Troll farms from North Macedonia have a history of running sensationalist websites and exploiting Facebook pages for profit. While it is unclear if Erica Marsh’s account was part of this campaign, it shares similarities with networks of fake political accounts created during the 2022 midterms.
These fake accounts often originated from foreign countries and voiced opinions on divisive issues while pretending to be politically active Americans. They frequently used profile pictures sourced from the internet to create a relatable persona, such as young women, teachers, or veterans. The exaggerated political stances presented in their tweets aimed to provoke controversy and attract attention, potentially for political gain or to monetize the account in the future.
Erica Marsh’s account once featured a link to a Venmo account, suggesting that she hoped to receive monetary support from her audience. However, it is unknown if anyone sent her money. The online discourse is vulnerable to the manipulation of one-dimensional identities that employ smart strategies for content posting, attractive profile pictures, and a hint of spice and sassiness, as observed by John Scott-Railton.
Alice Crites and Jeremy B. Merrill contributed to this report.
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