Politics

AOC live-streams popular video game “Among Us” to encourage viewers to vote

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PHOTO CREDITS: STEPHANIE KEITH/GETTY

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez live-streamed popular video game “Among Us” on Tuesday to an audience of 400,000 on twitch, according to BBC. 

This was the third-highest peak on record for the platform. She appealed to gamers to join her online “to get out the vote” ahead of the US election on November 3. Some critics accused Osasio-Cortez of “electioneering,” but one analysis said it worked because “she’s a bit of a gamer”.

“It feels genuine to me,” said Louise Shorthouse, games industry analyst at Omdia.“I do think it’s a very smart way to raise voting awareness pre-election, especially amongst the notoriously hard-to-reach Gen Z.”

Among Us is a hugely popular online murder mystery game, which involves players trying to fix a broken spaceship – but among them is an impostor, tasked with sabotage and murder of the other characters. Players must find the impostor – or avoid being found.

Representative Ocasio-Cortez began the stream by encouraging people to vote for the Democratic Party. “Of course, we are here to vote Blue, that’s [why] I’m here, to let you all know,” she said.

Fellow Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar also joined the stream. Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s stream lasted about three and a half hours. The congresswoman amassed more than 550,000 followers – more than any of her political counterparts on the platform. Democratic senator Bernie Sanders has 160,000 followers, while Donald Trump has 143,000 – but both use Twitch for political broadcasts and speeches, rather than gaming.

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: CONNOR KMIECIK

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