Trump launched a new marketing effort on X—that’s perfect for trolling
Former President Donald Trump recently began using branded notifications on X to tweet at and thank users who like his posts.
But because the automated tool immediately sends responses to anyone who interacts with his posts, it's already led to some humourous results, like Trump publicly thanking Groypers.
The branded notification Trump is using is one of X's "instant opt-in" posts, or a message sent to people who have "opted in" to receive messages from Trump by liking his tweet.
It's unclear if the ad feature is a new function of the site.
Trump's auto-replies are connected to a tweet he posted on Tuesday directed at North Carolina voters.
"North Carolina: Get ready to vote! LIKE this post to get IMPORTANT election reminders in North Carolina," Trump tweeted. "Whether you vote early or in-person on Election Day — have a plan and make sure you VOTE!"
The branded notifications initially confused people when one went viral yesterday.
Trump tweeted at X user @ObamaAtRedRobin, but the tweet didn't show up on Trump's account page, sparking research into what was going on.
Each of Trump's "branded notifications" say the same thing: The tweet always thanks the account of the person who liked his post, tags the account, says Trump will send them "important election updates," and urges them to vote for Trump.
"THANK YOU for liking my post! I’ll send you IMPORTANT ELECTION UPDATES for North Carolina," Trump's branded notification states. "Make sure you are ready to VOTE FOR DONALD J. TRUMP by November 5th. Reply #stop to opt-out."
One of the X accounts who liked one of Trump's tweets and received a branded notification from him was a woman who identifies herself as a Groyper "for Trump." "Groypers" is a term to refer to a group of alt-right activists and white nationalists.
"Groypers for Trump," @returntohegel tweeted on Tuesday.
In response to a like, Trump tagged @returntohegel in a tweet and sent the automated message.
"@returntohegel THANK YOU for liking my post! I’ll send you IMPORTANT ELECTION UPDATES for North Carolina," Trump's tweet reads. "Make sure you are ready to VOTE FOR DONALD J. TRUMP by November 5th. Reply #stop to opt-out."
Trump tends to be Groypers' candidate of choice, but he's been known to anger them as well: In August, Groypers declared war on his campaign for making them feel alienated, ignored, and left behind.
Regardless of who his tweets are directed at, Trump's auto-tweets have now become a bit of a meme. Some have made accounts mocking Trump to get a thank you.
"@TrumpIsAFelon THANK YOU" reads one post from the former president.
Many people have tweeted his exact messages either verbatim or changed the tagged account to mock Trump and others.
".@realdonaldtrump THANK YOU for liking my post! I’ll send you IMPORTANT ELECTION UPDATES for North Carolina," an X user tweeted. "Make sure you are ready to VOTE FOR DONALD J. TRUMP by November 5th. Reply #stop to opt-out."
"@elonmusk THANK YOU for liking my post! I’ll send you IMPORTANT ELECTION UPDATES for North Carolina," another X user tweeted. "Make sure you are ready to VOTE FOR DONALD J. TRUMP by November 5th. Reply #stop to opt-out."
"@Diddy THANK YOU for liking my post! I’ll send you IMPORTANT ELECTION UPDATES for North Carolina," an X user tweeted. "Make sure you are ready to VOTE FOR DONALD J. TRUMP by November 5th. Reply #stop to opt-out."
Trump has associated himself with objectionable people and groups on X before. In 2016, he retweeted a Benito Mussolini quote—“it is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.” Mussolini was a fascist dictator who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943.
At the time, Trump said he didn't support fascism—just "interesting quotes."
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