The United Nations is investigating a tweet sent from one of its verified Twitter accounts this week urging Americans to vote against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The tweet was sent 9:14 p.m. EST Thursday evening by the U.N. News Center, the organization’s breaking news service, and linked to a website run by progressive activism group Avaaz encouraging visitors to share an online voter registration tool through social media.
“We can defeat Trump … if 8 million Americans abroad vote,” reads a banner at the top of the page.
“At a time when Trump is trying to divide us, we could help defeat him if we all share this page with EVERYONE. Let’s reach every U.S. voter abroad.”
The tweet was deleted about 20 minutes later and is under investigation, the U.N. said.
“I wanted to let you know that that tweet did not originate from the U.N. News Centre [sic] and that this was the reason for it being taken down. We’re looking into its provenance,” Ari Gaitanis, the chief of news services for the organization’s public information department, told the Washington Examiner.
Avaaz on Friday said it wasn’t sure how its website ended up being tweeted by the U.N. account.
“We don’t know what happened with the U.N.’s tweet, but we do know that Donald Trump is a global threat. It’s why we’re seeing public figures from U.S. military leaders to the Pope express extreme concern about a Trump presidency. And it’s why we’re seeing citizens around the world mobilizing overseas voters for this election,” campaign director Nell Greenberg told The Washington Times.
Avaaz was founded in 2007, and its previous campaigns have included efforts to raise awareness about climate change and the plight of Syrian refugees, among others.
About 8 million U.S. citizens live abroad, but only roughly 12 percent voted for president in 2012, according to an Oxford University study.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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