Why #ExposeCNN Is Trending

#ExposeCNN is trending and here's why.

By Drew Dietsch | Published 4 years ago

#ExposeCNN has been trending on Twitter today and many online users are wondering just what is going on with the major news corporation. It turns out that a recent video from Project Veritas, a far-right activist group founded by James O’Keefe, has shown CNN Director Charlie Chester claiming that the network played a major and knowing part in getting Donald Trump to lose his re-election against Joseph Biden.

Here is the original tweet from James O’Keefe that got the #ExposeCNN hashtag trending in the first place:

Many right-wing followers are taking this as a triumphant victory that shows how CNN was biased against Donald Trump. They are hoping to have the #ExposeCNN hashtag take off and get more people on the bandwagon of disliking CNN and seeing it as a biased source of news and information. O’Keefe has certainly been open about his dislike of CNN and has gone after the network in the past.

However, Project Veritas has also been thrust back into the spotlight due to their attempt to get #ExposeCNN trending on Twitter. And unfortunately for the organization, it has brought up a lot of history regarding the deceptive, manipulative, misleading, and downright fabricated material that Project Veritas has produced over the years. Twitter even banned an official Project Veritas account after it was accused of privacy violations. And it certainly seems like there are plenty of Twitter user who are happy to point out the unreliable nature of Project Veritas videos.

Here are just some of the responses that have gained traction with the #ExposeCNN hashtag:

So while there are some people that are taking the #ExposeCNN hashtag on with utmost sincerity, a lot of the trending tweets look to be in opposition to the goals that O’Keefe and his Project Veritas outlet want to achieve. This is an example of a trend going poorly like when Sylvester Stallone recently began trending after it was revealed he had become a member of Donald Trump’s exclusive Florida club, Mar-a-Lago. If O’Keefe was hoping that #ExposeCNN would cause a major uptick in people railing against the news corporation, it seems the opposite is happening on Twitter.

One of the main points from a lot of critics of the #ExposeCNN hashtag is that it has become abundantly clear that 24-hour news networks have clear biases when it comes to being either left-leaning or right-leaning. Fox News has historically been known to be a right-wing outlet and One American News Network is an openly far-right, pro-Donald Trump network. The idea that CNN decided to take a stance against Donald Trump during the 2020 election does not seem like a huge piece of exposure to those who believe that other conservative outlets are even more blatant with their political stances when it comes to how news is delivered to their audiences.

We will have to wait and see if the #ExposeCNN hashtag actually does any substantial damage to CNN’s brand and reputation, but considering the source of the original video and the history behind its creator, it is likely that the trend is only taking off because so many users want to counter the hashtag’s perception.