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Fact check: Claim that Kamala Harris' current press secretary works for Twitter is false

McKenzie Sadeghi, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: Kamala Harris' current press secretary is senior communications manager at Twitter

Twitter — which for years faced criticism for ignoring harmful behavior from prominent accounts — recently began placing misinformation labels on tweets, including some from President Donald Trump, and flagging others for violating its standards against glorifying violence.

Social media users claim that Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris' press secretary plays a role in the platform's rules.

"Kamela (SIC) Harris' press secretary is the chief of communications at Twitter. Let that sink in," reads a Facebook post that has been shared over 640 times since it was posted Oct. 16.

The user behind the post has not returned USA TODAY's request for comment.

The claim was also posted to Instagram, where one user wrote, "If you don't know, now you know. And then consider everything that happened yesterday on Twitter...curious isn't it?"

In a message to USA TODAY, the Instagram user pointed to an article from Fox News titled, "Former Kamala Harris press secretary is top Twitter communications official, announced removal of Trump clip."

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Who is Harris'// press secretary?

Harris' current campaign press secretary is Sabrina Singh, a former senior adviser and communications director for Harris' California Senate office, CNN reported.

Singh has been the press secretary of two Democratic presidential hopefuls: New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and businessman and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.

She has also previously served as deputy communications director for the Democratic National Committee, and in 2016 she was the regional communications director for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, according to The American Bazaar.

Singh is an alumna of the University of Southern California and began her career as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee press assistant and then became communications director for Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., The Print reported.

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Confusion surrounding Harris' former press secretary

Nick Pacilio was Harris' previous press secretary and served in that role from 2011-14, while Harris was the attorney general of California, according to Pacilio's Linkedin page.

In 2014, Pacilio became the senior communications manager for Twitter. However, his position does not enforce the site's rules. A Twitter employee refuted the claim in response to an article from the National Review shared by Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor.

"Ari, he's a spokesperson. The article is 100% incorrect," tweeted Brandon Borrman, Twitter's head of communications, on Aug. 12. "He has nothing to do with enforcement. You're RTing completely fabricated information."

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Our ruling: False

The claim that Harris' press secretary is the senior communications manager of Twitter is FALSE, based on our research. There is no evidence that her current press secretary, Sabrina Singh, was ever employed by Twitter. Harris' former press secretary now works at Twitter; he became an employee there after working for Harris.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Claim about Kamala Harris' current press secretary false