Unraveling the Walz Flag Conspiracy: How Social Media Fueled False Claims and What the Data Shows

A day before Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was named the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, false rumors spread on social media suggesting he changed the state flag to resemble Somalia's. This conspiracy theory has since been debunked. Minnesota did introduce a new state flag and seal in May, replacing a previous design that Native Americans criticized for evoking painful memories of conquest and displacement.

PeakMetrics tracked the conspiracy’s spread, detecting approximately 76,200 posts on X (formerly Twitter) in August. On August 6, posts surged to about 60,000 before dropping 81% the next day to 11,000. The theory mainly spread through posts from high-follower conservative accounts and news.

Key X (Twitter) influencers based on the timing of their post and number of followers included:

• @AlexBasedXx2
• @kylenabecker
• @PatriotXV11
• @EndWokeness
• @amuse

Key News:

• Fox News
• Breitbart

PeakMetrics also detected the Walz flag conspiracy theory appearing on two major conservative subreddits, r/thebidenshitshow (post on 7 Aug) and r/timpool (post on 12 Aug). The theory was also discussed in r/vexillology, in the context of debunking the conspiracy theory. 

Since 15 August, the number of X (Twitter) posts per day related to the flag conspiracy has stayed below 100. Meanwhile, the “Tampon Tim” attack on Walz, which claimed he changed Minnesota law to require tampons in boys' bathrooms, peaked at 243,000 posts on 7 August and has generated 1,036,100 posts throughout August, outpacing the flag theory by 950,000 posts.

A Timeline of Key Posts about Walz Flag Conspiracy

14 May 2024: The Daily Wire posts a video on TikTok alleging that the new Minnesota state flag purposefully resembles the Somali flag (link).

4 Aug 2024: Speculation that Walz is the running mate pick. There are ~30 posts on Twitter about Walz and the Somali flag conspiracy. 

• Early post on Twitter (link) 
  • “You'd be hard pressed to tell if its America or Somalia.Their communist Governor Tim Walz et al., even had the Minnesota state flag redesigned to look like the flag of Somalia.” 
  • Author has ~4,000 followers. 

5 Aug 2024: Speculation that Walz is the running mate pick. There are only about ~30 posts on Twitter about Walz and the Somali flag. 

• Kyle Becker posts on Twitter (link)
  • Who is Tim Walz? Let's take a quick look:

• Fueled BLM Riots in 2020
• Rioters looted and wrecked Minneapolis
• Change MN state flag to resemble Somalia's

• 1.4 millions views and author has ~570,000 followers 

6 Aug 2024: Walz is announced as running mate. The number of posts per day on peaks at ~60,200 posts on Twitter about Walz and the Somali flag.

• Key escalating post on Twitter before the official announcement (early AM) (link)  
  • “It will be Tim Walz who encouraged riots and burning communities during the Summer of Love in 2020. He also altered the American flag to resemble more the Somalian flag.”
  • Author has ~42,000 followers. 
• Twitter account “End Wokeness” shares a post on the flag conspiracy soon after the announcement of Walz as the running mate (link). The post receives ~1.6 million views and the account has ~2.9 million followers. 
• Breitbart elevates earlier Twitter post from Kyle Becker in article about Walz (link)
• Fox News host Jesse Watters mentions the flag theory in his segment about Walz on live television. Several news outlets cover Watters’ mention of the conspiracy (link).
  • A number of Twitter posts amplify Watters’ attack on Walz and the flag. (example)

7 Aug 2024: The theory that Walz changed the Minnesota state flag falls by ~81% compared to the previous day’s high, hitting ~11,000 posts. 

• An account describing itself as “Conservative headlines” posts about the Walz flag conspiracy (link). The post receives ~17,000 views and the account has ~390,000 followers. 
• Washington Post opinion article shared on Twitter attempts to debunk flag conspiracy (link). The post receives about ~50,000 views and the Washington Post account has ~20 million followers. 

In conclusion, the rapid spread of the Walz flag conspiracy illustrates the power of misinformation on social media and how quickly false narratives can gain traction. Despite being debunked, the theory still generated significant online engagement, highlighting the challenges of combating viral misinformation. 

PeakMetrics' analysis shows the importance of real-time monitoring to track and respond to emerging narratives.