It seemed that the social media application Twitter was about to implode over the weekend as posts containing the hashtag "TrudeauMustGo" flooded the airways..If you ventured on Twitter, people were posting their pictures with paragraphs about their lives and their disgust for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau..The hashtag trended worldwide as people took to social media to declare their displeasure with Trudeau for calling them “extremist” or “misogynistic” if they refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine or if they expressed disagreement with his Liberal policies..The “TrudeauMustGo” hashtag went viral on September 15, 2022, ranking as the number one hashtag in the "politics" category, with 153,000 tweets..The trend was apparently started by Twitter user 'MartyUpNorth,' who first posted his story on September 13. That post has since received over 23k likes..But not everybody on Twitter was convinced that the hashtag was legitimate. Many suggested that "bots" were being used to post tweets and artificially inflate the number of likes and retweets.."Fake bots help to popularize anti-prime minister messaging on Twitter," Dave Salisbury from the University of Dayton told CTV News in one report..Gerald Butts, former principal secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, claimed it just had to be the result of some vast right-wing conspiracy. .READ MORE: KRAYDEN: Gerry Butts Smears #TrudeauHasGotToGo as a conspiracy.“I don’t doubt Marty is real. I don’t doubt that he believes he started this thing — which started in the US days before he thinks he started it. Sadly, he is being used. By whom," Butts tweeted.."Twitter removed the mega viral #TrudeauMustGo hashtag from the trending section after days of being there," one Twitter user said..Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of site integrity, told CTV News "that the company’s initial investigations into the #TrudeauMustGo hashtag have found no evidence of substantial bot activity amplifying the hashtag, despite multiple researchers continuing to voice concerns about potential hashtag manipulation.".“Our initial investigations have not found substantial bot activity amplifying the cited hashtag,” Roth added..Although some blamed Russia and bots for the hashtag on Twitter, one of the first "real" people to share the message #TrudeauMustGO in Canada was former NHL player and Olympic gold medalist Theo Fleury.."The 'Fringe' just became the majority again," Fleury tweeted on Monday. Over the weekend, Fleury said on Twitter, "Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing." .However, the hashtag was eventually removed from the trending list on Twitter and new trending hashtag "IStandWithTrudeau" took its place..UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith also posted a message to Trudeau on Twitter using the hashtag.."I'm an educated and independent woman running to be premier of Alberta, but because I believe no Canadian should be discriminated against for refusing a COVID vaccine, according to@JustinTrudeau I'm a misogynist with unacceptable views that must be dealt with #TrudeauMustGo," Smith said on Twitter.."Perhaps he'll have to deal with me sooner than he thinks."
