My @thedailybeast column on the @GOP's alarming inaction on Russia's increasingly sophisticated disi

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Max Burns
My @thedailybeast column on the @GOP's alarming inaction on Russia's increasingly sophisticated disinformation campaigns is now free to read!


GOP’s Response to Russian COVID Disinfo Shows We’re Screwed

https://t.co/9gUJaF9kGc?amp=1

Snip

In a different America, Tuesday’s announcement by U.S. officials that Russian intelligence services are using social media platforms to spread COVID-19 disinformation would have been a five-alarm political crisis. In Donald Trump’s unprepared and understaffed White House, it was just another news cycle.

What intelligence officials revealed sounds depressingly familiar: Russian agents connected to the Kremlin’s military intelligence service created hundreds of truth-free, pro-Russian “news stories” across three websites. Then, apparently without alerting a single social media platform, Russian agents created fake profiles to amplify their propaganda across the internet. ...

In fact, if this sounds a lot like the 2016 Russian disinformation campaign explored at length in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s official report, it’s because the tactics are largely unchanged. That Russian agents so easily compromised American information security not once but twice, in two successive election years, offers a stark portrait of how the Trump administration’s four-year refusal to hold Russia accountable jeopardizes American national security and public health.

There’s no question the Trump administration has actively worsened the situation. In February, Senate Republicans with Trump’s blessing blocked three election security bills aimed at beefing up America’s ability to detect and mitigate disinformation campaigns exactly like this one. Meanwhile, big tech companies like Twitter and Facebook have resisted calls by the public and lawmakers to take a more active stance addressing COVID-19 disinformation.