Catturd (born September 18, 1964) is the

online identity Internet identity (IID), also online identity, online personality, online persona or internet persona, is a social identity that an Internet user establishes in online communities and websites. It may also be an actively constructed presentatio ...

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

American

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

shitposter and

Internet troll In slang, a troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, an online video game) or who performs similar behaviors in real life. The methods and ...

Phillip Buchanan. The account is known for its

scatological humor Toilet humour or potty humour is a type of off-colour humour dealing with: defecation (including diarrhea and constipation), in which case it is called scatological humour (compare scatology); urination; flatulence, in which case it is called ...

, as well as spreading

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

and

disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...

Personal life

Buchanan was born on September 18, 1964. He is thrice-divorced. He married his first wife, whom he met at a gym when she was 16 and he was in his early 20s, in September 1986. The marriage was

annulled Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almo ...

in 1988. By 1991, Buchanan had married and divorced another woman. His third marriage happened a few years later, while he was working at a post office and pursuing music. They separated around 1998 and divorced in 2002. According to Buchanan, he has experienced

homelessness Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

and struggled with

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

. He decided to join

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

at the age of 54 for an "artistic outlet" after losing the ability to play guitar due to developing

arthritis Arthritis is a general medical term used to describe a disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, Joint effusion, swelling, and decreased range of motion of ...

in his fingers. Buchanan said he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. In the 1990s, he filed for

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 U.S. Code is the bankruptcy code that governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. This is in contrast to bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and Chapter 13, which govern the process of ''re ...

, and later fronted a band in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Fl ...

. Buchanan lives in

Wewahitchka, Florida Wewahitchka is a city in Gulf County, Florida, United States. The population was 2,074 as of the 2020 census. From the creation of Gulf County in 1925 until 1965, it served as the county seat before the county seat was moved to Port St. Joe. T ...

, on a "ranch in the middle of nowhere".

Online activity

In the 2010s, Buchanan began posting on

Disqus Disqus () is an American blog comment hosting service for websites and online communities that use a networked platform. The company's platform includes various features, such as social integration, social networking, user profiles, spam and ...

under stories from websites such as

Breitbart News ''Breitbart News Network'' (; known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an Radical right (United States), American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentar ...

. The Twitter

handle A handle is a part of, or an attachment to, an object that allows it to be grasped and object manipulation, manipulated by hand. The design of each type of handle involves substantial ergonomics, ergonomic issues, even where these are dealt wi ...

@catturd had been taken in 2010, and Catturd denied being the poster of the suspended account @CATTURD1. @catturd2 was created in September 2018. Over a year later, his account had over 100,000 followers, and half a million by the end of 2020. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

retweeted Catturd seven times.

Media Matters for America Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a non-profit left-leaning watchdog journalism organization. It was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media Research Center. It seeks to ...

accused Buchanan of violating Twitter's platform manipulation policy, attempting to boost

hashtags A hashtag is a Tag (metadata), metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the Number sign, hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo sharing, photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a fo ...

into the

trending topics Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, imag ...

list. When Elon Musk acquired Twitter, Buchanan was enthusiastic about the purchase; the two had also previously replied to each other on the platform. Buchanan praised Musk for plans to scale back Twitter's

content moderation On websites that allow users to create content, content moderation is the process of detecting contributions that are irrelevant, obscene, illegal, harmful, or insulting. The purpose of content moderation is to remove or apply a warning label to ...

, but said his account remained shadowbanned even after the purchase. Musk reached out personally to provide support. Later on, Buchanan tweeted that he was "100% wrong about lon Muskchanging Twitter." In March 2023, leaked internal documents from Twitter revealed that Catturd was among a handful of accounts having their reach artificially inflated by Twitter under Musk. The same month, Buchanan conducted a Twitter poll of a hypothetical 2024 Republican presidential primary between

and

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician, attorney, and former United States Navy, naval officer serving as the 46th List of governors of Florida, governor of Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Pa ...

, showing Trump winning 69%. This poll was presented by Trump at a rally and by Trump-affiliated

super PAC Independent expenditure-only political action committees, better known as super PACs, are a type of political action committee (PAC) in the United States. Unlike traditional PACs, super PACs are legally allowed to fundraise unlimited amounts of m ...

MAGA Inc. on Twitter.

References

External links

* {{Twitter 1964 births American conspiracy theorists Right-wing politics and social media Conspiracist media Florida Republicans Living people People from Wewahitchka, Florida Shitposters Twitter accounts