Russian propaganda effort helped spread 'fake news' during election, experts say
Source: Washington Post
The flood of fake news this election season got support from a sophisticated Russian propaganda campaign that created and spread misleading articles online with the goal of punishing Democrat Hillary Clinton, helping Republican Donald Trump and undermining faith in American democracy, say independent researchers who tracked the operation.
Russias increasingly sophisticated propaganda machinery including thousands of botnets, teams of paid human trolls, and networks of Web sites and social-media accounts echoed and amplified right-wing sites across the Internet as they portrayed Clinton as a criminal hiding potentially fatal health problems and preparing to hand control of the nation to a shadowy cabal of global financiers. The effort also sought to heighten the appearance of international tensions and promote fear of looming hostilities with nuclear-armed Russia.
Two teams of independent researchers found that the Russians exploited American-made technology platforms to attack U.S. democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment, as an insurgent candidate harnessed a wide range of grievances to claim the White House. The sophistication of the Russian tactics may complicate efforts by Facebook and Google to crack down on fake news, as they have vowed to do after widespread complaints about the problem.
There is no way to know whether the Russian campaign proved decisive in electing Trump, but researchers portray it as part of a broadly effective strategy of sowing distrust in U.S. democracy and its leaders. The tactics included penetrating the computers of election officials in several states and releasing troves of hacked emails that embarrassed Clinton in the final months of her campaign.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/2016/11/24/793903b6-8a40-4ca9-b712-716af66098fe_story.html
Botany
(70,483 posts)RKP5637
(67,102 posts)Botany
(70,483 posts).... that was linked to Putin in his HQ.
We are in for dark days.
Grey Lemercier
(1,429 posts)Response to Grey Lemercier (Reply #22)
Post removed
Grey Lemercier
(1,429 posts)I most assurdedly am not.
JI7
(89,244 posts)Botany
(70,483 posts)We are seeing a coup and Putin now has a person he owns in the White House.
yardwork
(61,588 posts)RKP5637
(67,102 posts)likely more and more.
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)From the drama.
Normalcy is not profitable.
So yeah damn straight the media is partially responsible.
Judi Lynn
(160,515 posts)That was the only expectation, their only requirement, the only way media earned respect.
How that ever changed is a tragedy. There's no moral part to it. Like Jeb Stuart Magruder. Watergate co-conspirator, they lost their "moral compass." It all went to hell when the large big-business corporations bought all of the smaller ones and were able to control everything shoved down the throats of the US public.
They have nothing but contempt, disrespect for the readers. They have decided they don't have to, or want to tell us the truth about the big things, although they are delighted to share facts about pure crap entertainment stories that have never mattered, probably not even to the clowns they obsess over.
Maven
(10,533 posts)And when are Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey etc going to step up and put a stop to it on their platforms?
JI7
(89,244 posts)It would be a non issue.
RKP5637
(67,102 posts)of it. This, is what we've come to in the new USA. And some of the media would be complicit by ignoring it all together.
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)If a late night news drop.
lapucelle
(18,238 posts)Instead we have the infotainment industry.
Adsos Letter
(19,459 posts)I don't know if it has bearing, but there is some interesting reading there. Curious as to what you all think.
Scroll down to the segment "in the United States." It is under the "Content" heading.
I have no idea about the validity of any of it. Perhaps others do, and can weigh in.
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)But it's obviously happening. Scary world we're living in.
elmac
(4,642 posts)each blogger has about 100 ID.s. They are the ones on Twitter or facebook who would gang up on any anti Trump posters. It is state sponsored terrorism and I have no doubt the FBI was in on it or just sit back and let it happen.
LisaL
(44,973 posts)So, yea, I don't think FBI worried all that much about Russian bloggers on twitter or facebook.
Little Tich
(6,171 posts)moondust
(19,972 posts)on Deutsche Welle looking into the polonium poisoning of Litvinenko reveals that Pooty has/had ties to gangsters in St. Petersburg dating back to when he was head of the Committee for External Relations there in the 1990s after resigning from the KGB. The documentary paints a pretty corrupt picture of Putin and Russia reminiscent of Soviet days.
http://www.dw.com/en/moscows-long-shadow/a-36488978
anamandujano
(7,004 posts)"An intelligence source told BuzzFeed News that they fear 2017s federal elections could see a repeat of the misinformation and hacking that disrupted the US presidential race."
'Alongside hacking and misinformation, Russia also was adept at influencing politicians who are friendly to the Kremlins point of view. The EU diplomat noted a number of European politicians, citing examples from France, the Czech Republic, and Italy, who visit Moscow and when they return home their parties become more vocal on issues of interest to Russia or their policies change all together.'
Got this link via talkingpointsmemo
https://www.buzzfeed.com/albertonardelli/german-spies-are-alarmed-over-threat-to-election-from-fake-n?utm_term=.wb0XZRxRwq#.ytZqMYVYXW
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/don-t-forget-it-happened
Hugin
(33,112 posts)It amazes me that more is not being done about it.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)There you have it.
robbedvoter
(28,290 posts)"The tactics included penetrating the computers of election officials in several states " How isn't this the lede? The headline?
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)all those platforms are so easy to "game", open to view, except in countries without 'press and citizen freedoms'. like Russia, China.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)large watermark, for some kind of review or even lawsuit? and google should list pay to view and fake news separately.
Turbineguy
(37,313 posts)A political party bent on destroying democracy, "conservative" operatives to destroy American values and millions of useful idiots to bring it all home.