Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) used and directed staff to make burner accounts in order to bolster her online image, according to a Wired report.
The South Carolina congresswoman chairs the House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, knows how to code, and is one of the more computer-savvy members of the House.
Former Mace staffers suggested to Wired that she and her staff boosted her social media presence with burner accounts designed to promote her. “We had to make multiple accounts, burner accounts, and go and reply to comments, saying things that weren’t true — even Reddit forums,” an unnamed former Mace staffer said.
“We were congressional staff, and there were actual things we could be doing to help the constituents,” they added.
Wired reported that Mace used her computer skills to put “up burner accounts on a variety of social media platforms to monitor what people were saying about her and bolster her image.”
Mace, on her personal account, often replies to both supporters and detractors. “I work hard for SC every day. Engaging with you IS my job,” Mace replied to one X user, who wrote, “When your state representative is more worried about engagements than her job representing you….”
She often thanks supporters who offer kind words. Many of the accounts she replies to appear to have long post histories over multiple years, which would indicate they aren’t bots.
Mace referred to the Wired story multiple times on Wednesday. “Since @WIRED has decided to write about my dating life, let me be clear: I am married to my job and in love with South Carolina,” she said Wednesday morning. Several hours later, she posted, “The rumors are true, I am in fact a nerd.”
Mace’s communications director, Sydney Long, told the Washington Examiner that she has not been directed to make any burner accounts. “Nancy Mace’s Communications Director here, can confidently say I’ve never been asked to make a burner account,” she said.
When asked about Mace’s computer expertise, Long added, “Thank you for noticing. The Congresswoman taught herself how to code in college. That shows a lot of initiative. Today, she is chairwoman of a Cybersecurity subcommittee. I can confirm she is in fact a nerd.”
A person familiar with her digital strategy told the Washington Examiner that it was standard to make burner accounts and to ask any congressional digital director on the topic. They also said Mace’s “explosive growth” on social media the last year was entirely organic.
Mace has been in the public eye lately as she battles her ex-fiance publicly, showing a “naked silhouette” of herself during a House subcommittee hearing as evidence that he allegedly participated in sexual misconduct. The image drew many eyes on social media, where she boasts more than a million followers between her congressional and personal accounts.
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Wesley Donehue, a former Mace strategist, said Mace is very computer-oriented and programs bots. “You need to know that Nancy Mace is quite the — when I use the word ‘nerd’ or ‘geek,’ it’s always favorable, but a computer nerd or a computer geek,” Donehue said in a deposition, reported by FITSNews. “She programs her own bots. She sets up Twitter burner accounts. This is kind of a thing she does. She sits all night on the couch and programs bots, because she’s very, very computer savvy. She controls her own voter database, she programs a lot of her own website, she programs Facebook bots and Instagram bots and Twitter bots. It’s what she does for fun.”
Wired reported that one of the staffers said they never saw Mace “coding s***.”
“But, I mean, she’d talk about tech a lot,” they added.