Social media accounts with ties to Russia pushed a huge Twitter trend in favour of an independent California on US election night 2016, BBC Trending has learned. The campaign was one of at least two popular online independence drives with links to the Kremlin.
It was a surprising development on a surprising night. In the early hours of 9 November 2016, shortly after it became clear that Donald Trump would be the next president of the United States, the hashtag #Calexit hit Twitter's list of top trends.
Trump, Brexit... Calexit?
"Calexit" is short for "California exit" - the idea that the US state could break away from the rest of the nation - and the election-night trend seemed to be driven by liberal activists wary that heavily Democratic California would be governed by Trump.
