Top tweets and hashtags from the second presidential debate

Sunday’s presidential debate was not only the most tweeted ever, it spawned a flurry of hashtags that put a humorous spin on some of the touchiest issues of the day.

Twitter reports more than 17 million tweets were posted last night related to the town hall style debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton at Washington University in St. Louis.

The social media platform says the question of Republican nominee Donald Trump’s treatment of women dominated the online conversation. But the single moment from the debate that generated the most tweets was not about that controversy; instead, it was Trump saying he disagreed with his running mate Mike Pence over how to handle the crisis in Syria. 

Twitter said the second most tweeted moment was Trump saying he’s a gentleman, followed by his threat to jail his rival Hillary Clinton if he’s elected president.

Overall, Twitter data showed tweets about Trump accounted for 64 percent of #debate-related conversation, compared to 36 percent for Clinton. 

CNET reports that the most popular tweet of the night came from college professor Moustafa Bayoumi, who referenced Trump’s call for Muslims to report signs of dangerous activities to the authorities:

Many others jumped on the issue and the hashtag #MuslimsReportStuff quickly started trending.

Some used the hashtag to send more pointed messages:

Another trending hashtag – #LockerRoomTalkIn5Words – sprang from Trump’s explanation Friday night that his lewd comments about women in a 2005 videotape were simply a matter of “locker room banter.” 

Clinton walked away from the debate with 25,000 new Twitter followers, while Trump gained 16,000, Twitter reported.

Google said the top fact-check question for Clinton revolves around Benghazi. Regarding Trump, users wanted to know more about his comments on women.

• Presidential Debate
• Hillary Clinton
• Donald Trump