During the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, one Twitter user known as “ComfortablySmug” spread a number of mistruths about the storm. A recent investigation has revealed the identity of the person behind the account. It turns out to be Shashank Tripathi, a former hedge fund analyst and campaign manager for Christopher R. Wright. Tripathi resigned from his position and is no longer tweeting.
The story spread quickly. It was also covered on CNN and the Weather Channel. It even spawned on-air commentary. While Smug was not charged or investigated, he is facing criticism for his stunt. While he apologized to the New York community, many in the media are still angry. Interestingly enough, there’s only one other person who goes by the name “comfortablysmug.”
The account began to post tweets about the storm during the days leading up to Hurricane Sandy. The account has around 6,500 followers. At first, these tweets included wildly inaccurate accounts of the storm’s devastation. In the end, the aim was to spread confusion. For example, one tweet claimed that Governor Cuomo was trapped in Manhattan.
However, the Twitter user has since apologized for his comments. He had been a prolific commenter at New York magazine’s website, where he became known as “ComfortablySmug.” He made several comments a day, and his followers soon numbered 1,449 comments. While he hasn’t been charged with a crime, his comments were widely published, establishing him as a notorious figure on the Internet.
The Twitter account @comfortablysmug had a few thousand followers, including some New York City media elite. At the time, Twitter was a much smaller, more insular bubble than it is today, but news spread quickly and easily. The Twitter account’s post about Hurricane Sandy quickly spread like wildfire. Official accounts and personal users published minute-by-minute updates to New Yorkers. This was a perfect opportunity to gain attention.
While the account is anonymous, the person behind it is real. A Buzzfeed reporter identified the individual behind Comfortably Smug as Shashank Tripathi, a hedge fund analyst from New York City. He manages the Republican Christopher R. Wight campaign and tweets regularly about the president’s policies and excesses. The account has also grown to become influential in the political arena.
Despite his troll-like posts, Tripathi’s Internet fame stretches further back than Sandy. He has been a frequent contributor to websites focusing on the state of New York and its people. In 2008, Tripathi even wrote a “sex diary” for New York magazine, though he prefers to remain anonymous. Since then, Comfortably Smug has been silent on its website. But this isn’t the end for Tripathi.
During Hurricane Sandy, many people were angry with the user @comfortablysmug for spreading false news. His posts during the storm were retweeted hundreds of times, but were incorrect. The account’s reports about the state of New York caused confusion and anger among New Yorkers. In fact, CNN and the official NYSE Twitter account later issued statements disputing ComfortablySmug’s false report. But the false news spread like wildfire, and the account’s posts got re-tweeted more than 600 times.
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