Exclusive: Russians Appear to Use Facebook to Push Pro-Trump Rallies in 17 U.S. Cities

[DonViejo]

Source: The Daily Beast



‘Being Patriotic,’ a Facebook group uncovered by The Daily Beast, is the first evidence of suspected Russian provocateurs explicitly mobilizing Trump supporters in real life.

BEN COLLINS
GIDEON RESNICK
KEVIN POULSEN
SPENCER ACKERMAN

09.20.17 11:39 AM ET

Suspected Russia propagandists on Facebook tried to organize more than a dozen pro-Trump rallies in Florida during last year’s election, The Daily Beast has learned.

The demonstrations—at least one of which was promoted online by local pro-Trump activists— brought dozens of supporters together in real life. They appear to be the first case of Russian provocateurs successfully mobilizing Americans over Facebook in direct support of Donald Trump.

The Aug. 20, 2016, events were collectively called “Florida Goes Trump!” and they were billed as a “patriotic state-wide flash mob,” unfolding simultaneously in 17 different cities and towns in the battleground state. It’s difficult to determine how many of those locations actually witnessed any turnout, in part because Facebook’s recent deletion of hundreds of Russian accounts hid much of the evidence. But videos and photos from two of the locations—Fort Lauderdale and Coral Springs—were reposted to a Facebook page run by the local Trump campaign chair, where they remain to this day.

“On August 20, we want to gather patriots on the streets of Floridian towns and cities and march to unite America and support Donald Trump!” read the Facebook event page for the demonstrations. “Our flash mob will occur in several places at the same time; more details about locations will be added later. Go Donald!”

Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/russians-appear-to-use-facebook-to-push-pro-trump-flash-mobs-in-florida

[SHRED]

1. Did Zuckerberg help with targeting?

That's the question.

[FreeState]

4. Dont be silly it distracts from the issue

that's not how companies work. The CEO rarely does low-end task, like help companies with their targeting (something Facebook does for all companies that ask, not just Trump).

Facebook has some real serious legal issues with this, Zuckerberg isn't one of them.

[L. Coyote]

10. That's not the question. Was there collusion between Russians and Trump is the question.

Do the stockholders in a phone company bear responsibility if Republicans use phones for political purposes? You see how disconnected that is?

[mopinko]

12. i keep thinking about all those quizzes.

a lot of them asked for access to your contacts, but even w/o that, they were simply self profiling.
where the hell do these things come from?
i remember one that was supposed to help you pick your candidate, another that rated how left or right you were.

i mean, talk about a gold mine.

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Undeniable fact now our enemy supported trump, and yet 50 million of us dont care

they prefer Putin to a woman or a Democrat.

How do we deal with THAT?

[Cryptoad]

3. The Russkies are gear up now for

2018..... seems to be more and more even here on DU that can be called "Comrade"!

[Solly Mack]

5. The seriousness of it all aside for one moment...just think of all those right-wingers

who claim to love America so much, and who wrap themselves in the flag while telling people to love it or leave it, and firmly believing that they are the "real" Americans - playing Pavlov's dog to a group of Russians who probably laughed the entire time about the fucking stupid suckers who were eating this shit up.

I know the people who embraced Putin's Perestroika for America propaganda on FB have no shame about it but I can't help but laugh at their ignorance. They just knew they were marching to the tune of the "The Star-Spangled Banner" and turns out they were doing the Barynya to the State Anthem of the Russian Federation the whole time.

As for the willing enablers, them I would like to see in prison.

[tanyev]

8. I couldn't believe that during the campaign.

I occasionally clicked on the pro-Trump groups Facebook would suggest for me and the majority of posts were started by people with obviously foreign names, whose profiles clearly said they were in Macedonia, or Russia, or other countries. And then you've got Joe Blow from Red State, USA chiming in with "Yeah, 'Murica!!" comments.

[Solly Mack]

9. It boggles the mind.

That could be my laughter jarring my brain loose though.

[Cracklin Charlie]

6. Facebook deleted hundreds of Russian accounts?

Would that be considered destruction of evidence?

[FakeNoose]

11. They've already turned evidence over to Mueller

FB is just following through and kicking people off Facebook who never should have been allowed on.

Trouble is, it's so easy to get anonymous accounts that the ones who were kicked off are probably back on again under another name. I'm sure FB isn't making much effort to police this.

[groundloop]

7. "...we want to gather PATRIOTS on the streets...." Joseph Goebbels would be proud

What a fucking crock of shit... PATRIOTS my ass.