MADISON, S.D. (AP) - Dakota State University says no faculty worked with now-Sen. Mike Rounds’ 2014 campaign to try to identify who was behind anonymous Twitter accounts that attacked Rounds during the Republican primary.
The university released the statement Friday after the Argus Leader reported on emails between Rounds’ team in 2013 about a plan to bait several Twitter users into clicking on links and revealing IP addresses that could de-mask them.
The newspaper reports a digital consultant sent an email after the operation collected IP addresses, saying they would “turn over all the intel we have to the DSU team and turn them loose.”
Dakota State University says an “extensive investigation” shows no staff or students worked with the campaign on the Twitter issue.
A Rounds spokeswoman didn’t immediately comment to The Associated Press.
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