Will Pro-Trump Social Media Guru Sink Jon Ossoff With Mystery Hashtag?

By Sam Kestenbaum June 19, 2017

With Georgia’s special House election one day away, a Trump-supporting professional “social media guru” is flooding Twitter with grass roots-looking messages against Democrat Jon Ossoff.

Accounts related to a man named Robert Shelton, a.k.a. @RobertsRooms, have flooded hashtags about the election with anti-Ossoff messages, Politico reported.

“DON’T VOTE FOR #NEVEROSSOFF,” one wrote early Friday morning. “HIS BIG MONEY DONORS OWN HIM.”

“Who would Alexandria shooter James Hodgkinson vote for in Georgia 6th District?” asked another. “#Ossoff of course! #GA06 do you really want to vote 4 more Democrat insanity?”

Shelton’s account indicates he is CEO of PlanetStuff, Inc. Shelton offers his social media services to other politicians and bills himself as a champion of “America 1st” political candidates and in one advertisement boasted of having “Social Media WARRIORS In EVERY TOWN Across EVERY STATE” with a network to 5 million Twitter followers, according to Politico. He boasts having “in-house meme creation” among his services and one post indicates that he pays “retweeters.”

Ossoff, a Jewish native of Atlanta, is the 30-year-old is a nominee for Congress in a special election. He faces Republican opponent Karen Handel in a runoff election on June 20.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

Sam Kestenbaum is a contributing editor and former staff writer for the Forward. Before this, he worked for The New York Times and newsrooms in Sana, Ramallah and Beijing. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum.

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