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[Funky Papa]

WaPo. The original article is really, really large, so I recommend clicking on the link if you want to read more.

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.

Russia’s increasingly sophisticated propaganda machinery — including thousands of botnets, teams of paid human “trolls,” and networks of websites 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.

...

“They want to essentially erode faith in the U.S. government or U.S. government interests,” said Clint Watts, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute who along with two other researchers has tracked Russian propaganda since 2014. “This was their standard mode during the Cold War. The problem is that this was hard to do before social media.”

The researchers used Internet analytics tools to trace the origins of particular tweets and mapped the connections among social-media accounts that consistently delivered synchronized messages. Identifying website codes sometimes revealed common ownership. In other cases, exact phrases or sentences were echoed by sites and social-media accounts in rapid succession, signaling membership in connected networks controlled by a single entity.

PropOrNot’s monitoring report, which was provided to The Washington Post in advance of its public release, identifies more than 200 websites as routine peddlers of Russian propaganda during the election season, with combined audiences of at least 15 million Americans. On Facebook, PropOrNot estimates that stories planted or promoted by the disinformation campaign were viewed more than 213 million times.

...

Some of these stories originated with RT and Sputnik, state-funded Russian information services that mimic the style and tone of independent news organizations yet sometimes include false and misleading stories in their reports, the researchers say. On other occasions, RT, Sputnik and other Russian sites used social-media accounts to amplify misleading stories already circulating online, causing news algorithms to identify them as “trending” topics that sometimes prompted coverage from mainstream American news organizations.

If you want to know what some media are freaking out about fake news, here's your reason. Russia has always been amazing at spreading disinformation (much, much better than the west), but Facebook and your dumb uncle are making things much worse.

 

[takriel]

And people are/were of course dumb enough to believe this shit.

 

[BocoDragon]

Either Russia totally fucked with this election six ways from sunday, or someone wants us to believe that they did.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

Americans got played like a damn fiddle.

 

[Permanently A]

""""""""""""""""""experts"""""""""""""""""""

I only trust the good folks at conservativeeagle.net

 

[neorej]

that's just what the liberal media wants you to believe. They don't care about facts, or truth, they care about their bias. Where were they when the news broke that Hilary was controlled by Martians in an effort to gain control over earth through her presidency? EXACTLY!

 

[Kathian]

Have we seen any evidence this was more likely to make people vote one way or another?

 

[Atrophis]

that's just what the liberal media wants you to believe. They don't care about facts, or truth, they care about their bias. Where were they when the news broke that Hilary was controlled by Martians in an effort to gain control over earth through her presidency? EXACTLY!

You can't win with these people. That fact the "MSM" doesn't report the bullshit made up fake news they see on Facebook is only proof to them that its real and there's a Liberal conspiracy to keep it all censored.

 

[Funky Papa]

Either Russia totally fucked with this election six ways from sunday, or someone wants us to believe that they did.

Russia's effort was large enough that some of the less sophisticated trolls were easily caught. This is something that has been going on for the past few years, starting with the push to turn RT and Sputnik News into viral sensations spreading the news that the (((((mainstream media))))) won't.

The situation is bad enough that the EU is launching a number of counterpropaganda operations.

A fledgling group of 11 diplomats that find and debunk Russian online propaganda could be given a bigger staff and deeper pockets, if the European Parliament has its way.

Another small programme that targets Islamic State propaganda would get a similar boost.

...

The European Parliament report is not binding, but signals lawmakers’ growing willingness to intervene in how fake news and propaganda is spread on social media platforms.

Germany was targeted more than any other European country with online propaganda originating from Russia, according to an official working on the Commission programme. Much of the online posts were personal attacks on Merkel.

Over the last year, the group saw an increase in fake news that it says come from users based in Russia. They often aim to discredit the European Union and so far, have been written in around 20 languages.

Another recent post that the diplomats highlighted as fake claimed that Belgium had bombed civilians in Syria, which circulated after EU leaders criticised Russia for dropping bombs on Aleppo.

Russia-based social media users also spread a flurry of fake news during the campaigns this year leading up to the Brexit referendum and the referendum in the Netherlands on whether the country would sign onto the EU association agreement with the Ukraine, a diplomat said.

I personally saw the bit about Belgium bombing civilians, despite being nothing but balls.

 

[Electric Eye]

I hate to say it but the only way to end it is to end Putin and his governemnt by somehow returning the favor and destabilizing them and bringing real change to their country. A soft approach is no longer a viable option we failed at that after the wall crumbled this is going to take a harder line approach. Here is the terrifying reality though, now that the GOP has total control they will do nothing as they see this as a net positive they love to win at all costs and will happily sell out the US to Putin as long as they get to keep power. The USSR has played their last piece and won. We are fucked until all these old players die of disease or old age.

 

[You Know Nothing]

""""""""""""""""""experts"""""""""""""""""""

I only trust the good folks at conservativeeagle.net

freedomeagle.org is the only source that tells it like (((big media))) refuses to.

 

[aspiegamer]

Will never recover from the irony of Republican voters trusting actual Russian state media as their source for election news. Okay, irony might be the wrong word. I can't think of any other immediate substitute for "most inexplicable thing ever contrary to societal norms."

This is a somewhat depressing read, but everyone should read it. Fresh anger at the likes of Facebook and Reddit, of course, as if there wasn't enough of that to go around already.

Have we seen any evidence this was more likely to make people vote one way or another?

You're kidding, right? I know you're not, but I'll give you a second chance to say you are.

 

[CadetMahoney]

Paid alt-righters be like: do a job you love and never work a day in your life.

 

[BocoDragon]

If you haven't seen Adam Curtis' film HyperNormalization, please do.

There's a bit about Putin's propaganda machine, led by a man named Vladislav Surkov. He's instructed the propaganda machine not merely to glorify Putin, but to undermine people's sense of trust in a shared reality. He used Kremlin money to fund both anti-fascists and neo-nazis, and even liberals and political parties opposed to Putin. The end-game is a populace that doesn't know what's really going on, disagree amongst themselves, and so they are helpless to mount a co-ordinated opposition to whatever Putin is really doing.

Whether that's been exported by Russia or not (and it only adds to the point that we aren't sure), I think that reality came to America this election season. People are not even sharing the same sets of facts anymore. It could be an organic feature of internet bubbles, but if it were state sponsored by Russia, it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

 

[Desperado]

So after all the conspiracy/corruption/foreign interest accusations against Hillary, this actually literally happened? Jesus.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

It should go without saying, and yet I needed it said to me apparently: Don't read the comments.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

It should go without saying, and yet I needed it said to me apparently: Don't read the comments.

Eh that wasn't so bad.

 

[greycolumbus]

So after all the conspiracy/corruption/foreign interest accusations against Hillary, this actually literally happened? Jesus.

It's been known for some time that Russia had "troll centers" and it's been hinted that the Kremlin intended to interfere with the 2016 election. This is just more confirmation.

 

[BocoDragon]

I find it comforting that if you connect the dots in a certain way, a lot of the chaos and division of this election can be boiled down to "neo nazis" and "evil Russians".

Somebody get Indiana Jones on the case.

 

[KonradLaw]

If anyone is interested in how exactly it's done I recommend following
https://euvsdisinfo.eu/
It's official site of EU’s East StratCom Task force that is constantly digging out the propaganda and misinformation spread by russian forces.
They cover not just Europe, but also USA related operations from Kremlin backed forces.
Absolutely fascinating reads.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

Eh that wasn't so bad.

They were when I read the article a few hours ago...

 

[Mr. Pointy]

Yep. Alexander Dugin's Foundations of Geopolitics is the Kremlin's manual for global fuckery.

 

[Hermii]

If you haven't seen Adam Curtis' film HyperNormalization, please do.

There's a bit about Putin's propaganda machine, led by a man named Vladislav Surkov. He's instructed the propaganda machine not merely to glorify Putin, but to undermine people's sense of trust in a shared reality. He used Kremlin money to fund both anti-fascists and neo-nazis, and even liberals and political parties opposed to Putin. The end-game is a populace that doesn't know what's really going on, disagree amongst themselves, and so they are helpless to mount a co-ordinated opposition to whatever Putin is really doing.

Whether that's been exported by Russia or not (and it only adds to the point that we aren't sure), I think that reality came to America this election season. People are not even sharing the same sets of facts anymore. It could be an organic feature of internet bubbles, but if it were state sponsored by Russia, it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

I dont think Putin deserves most of the credit for that, I think its Internet, social media culture. You can always find an article supporting what you want to believe and post it on social meda, no matter what you want to believe. If this is all Russia, thats a seriously impressively efficient propaganda campaign.

People needs to learn to be more critical.

 

[Deleted member 125677]

Yes, the ability to be critical of sources, particularly online resources, is basically an essential skill, that need to be thought in schools. It's going to be a major issue going forward as more and more news and information is gathered through the internet and social media, and less through editorial staffs and printed/published media.

The next generation doesn't need to know and remember stuff as much as they need to process and sort out all the garbage information from the good information out there.

 

[Nanashrew]

I dont think Putin deserves most of the credit for that, I think its Internet, social media culture. You can always find an article supporting what you want to believe and post it on social meda, no matter what you want to believe. If this is all Russia, thats a seriously impressively efficient propaganda campaign.

People needs to learn to be more critical.

Definitely true about being more critical. There are people who will retweet anything on Twitter related to an event unaware if some are fake. It's happened many times throughout this year with protests, even people here on GAF linking to some tweets that were false before. Many getting caught up in the moment not realizing or thinking that something they're sharing could be fake. That's one of the ways fake news can thrive and find wider audiences, and it's dangerous and detrimental. It's how some of these accounts grew to be big with several million followers and a checkmark.

There's also another issue in social media culture with perception and how things have gotten ingrained. These fake news accounts are reporting the "news" before anyone else. That's all that has to be said to make major news networks look bad by comparison. It's a struggle, we're getting news so fast on places like Twitter before any major site can put up an article or get the facts needed to make an article. People see these major networks to be slow, out of touch and so on. There are things said that are true, but people in the thick of it have been overlooking the dangers of what's been happening on social media with fake news. So much so we're just now at the point we're all taking these fake news sites seriously long after the fact.

 

[Boney]

Clinton team also hired a bunch of Astroturfers right?

 

[old manatee]

Clinton team also hired a bunch of Astroturfers right?

Correct the Record. I don't think they were spreading fake news, more like disingenuously shouting people down with talking points.

 

[forms]

I am just amazed at how the most American of American patriots, hell bent on saving their nation from just about everyone, probably got duped by the Russkies.

 

[RM8]

I am just amazed at how the most American of American patriots, hell bent on saving their nation from just about everyone, probably got duped by the Russkies.

And they'll either never know it or accept it. Lol, America.

 

[Funky Papa]

Clinton team also hired a bunch of Astroturfers right?

Correct the Record was a stain, but there's a difference between candidates hitting below the belt and a foreign power unleashing a campaign of mass propaganda.

And they'll either never know it or accept it. Lol, America.

Don't laugh too much. Europe's Nu Left and anti-EU types are enamored of RT.

 

[jsnepo]

Same thing probably happened with our country (the Philippines) but with China.

 

[BocoDragon]

Same thing probably happened with our country but with China.

Philippines?

edit: I see your edit. I knew it. I think you could be right, too.

I dont think Putin deserves most of the credit for that, I think its Internet, social media culture. You can always find an article supporting what you want to believe and post it on social meda, no matter what you want to believe. If this is all Russia, thats a seriously impressively efficient propaganda campaign.

People needs to learn to be more critical.

I agree. It's not all because of Russia.

But the social media culture provides an amazing opportunity to create alternative realities, and I think many propagandists have used it.

 

[Deleted member 125677]

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/10/...dible-sites-are-and-auto-generates-citations/

https://devpost.com/software/fib#updates


Tell your relatives.

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

This is terrifying.
I wonder if they'll try to mess with next year's French election. Sadly, the answer is probably a resounding yes.

 

[Funky Papa]

This is terrifying.
I wonder if they'll try to mess with next year's French election. Sadly, the answer is probably a resounding yes.

They are already doing it by financing the FN and telling Le Pen to support Crimea's independence.

 

[Bold One]

Vladislav Surkov

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcy8uLjRHPM

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

They are already doing it by financing the FN and telling Le Pen to support Crimea's independence.

Of course, the FN connection is obvious but I was talking about the media. Le Pen is going to need a big push to overcome Fillon and I wonder if Russia is going to "help" in one way or another aside from just the financing.

 

[BocoDragon]

Vladislav Surkov

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcy8uLjRHPM

Thanks for that. I saw this short a couple years ago, but didn't consider it particularly relevant. Now I think it's a contributor to the zeitgeist of our age.

Obviously we are just following Curtis' line of thinking here, and I can see he's repurposed this specialized area of interest for his newer, more relevant film that connected to Trump/Brexit, but I think there's some truth here as to the murkiness of world events.

I feel mainstream life in America is now completely dominated by the kind of uncertainty that men like Surkov have intentionally cultivated. Whether there is a direct connection, or not.

 

[NeonBlack]

Either Russia totally fucked with this election six ways from sunday, or someone wants us to believe that they did.

Americans can't be that bad right guys, right?

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

Yeah, we know. But he won "fair and square".

 

[Neo C.]

I don't blame Russia. The US just aren't smart enough to close the obvious weak point of their democracy. Now we all suffer.

 

[Audioboxer]

Don't doubt it at all. With the way in which people consume news online fake nonsense is incredibly effective.

The second issue is even when some know it's fake or biased they double down because it's not about impartial fact and truth, but having confirmation bias and wanting to feel good about your views and beliefs.

Online you can pretty much find any sort of "proof" to "back you up" and claim you are right. Even "scientific studies" aren't safe from pseudo science bullshit and misrepresenting findings to fit biased narratives.

 

[jWILL253]

At this point, if it ends up being true that Russia indeed tampered with our election... not just spreading propaganda and misinformation, but actually rigging our election... I don't see how we don't end up at war with Russia.

 

[Audioboxer]

At this point, if it ends up being true that Russia indeed tampered with our election... not just spreading propaganda and misinformation, but actually rigging our election... I don't see how we don't end up at war with Russia.

As in military? I mean, really? I'm not sure trying to kick off another world war and having mass casualties would be a great plan.

However I guess there is enough people thinking Donald is "dying" to start firing Nuclear weapons all over the place.

 

[Kibbles]

People eat up fake news and spread it enough on Facebook, it's insane how many fake stuff I see shared

 

[Messofanego]

If you haven't seen Adam Curtis' film HyperNormalization, please do.

There's a bit about Putin's propaganda machine, led by a man named Vladislav Surkov. He's instructed the propaganda machine not merely to glorify Putin, but to undermine people's sense of trust in a shared reality. He used Kremlin money to fund both anti-fascists and neo-nazis, and even liberals and political parties opposed to Putin. The end-game is a populace that doesn't know what's really going on, disagree amongst themselves, and so they are helpless to mount a co-ordinated opposition to whatever Putin is really doing.

Whether that's been exported by Russia or not (and it only adds to the point that we aren't sure), I think that reality came to America this election season. People are not even sharing the same sets of facts anymore. It could be an organic feature of internet bubbles, but if it were state sponsored by Russia, it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

I need to watch that. Thanks for the summary on that aspect.

 

[darkwing]

USSR won the Cold War

 

[Poster#1]

And we are supposed to trust this report? Lol

 

[jWILL253]

As in military? I mean, really? I'm not sure trying to kick off another world war and having mass casualties would be a great plan.

However I guess there is enough people thinking Donald is "dying" to start firing Nuclear weapons all over the place.

Of course it's not a good idea.

But direct tampering is probably considered an act of war. How long are we just gonna give Russia a pass?

 

[Audioboxer]

Of course it's not a good idea.

But direct tampering is probably considered an act of war. How long are we just gonna give Russia a pass?

Depends on what you deem direct tampering, or what their involvement is proven to be. Not really much point in chucking the bath water out when there isn't sufficient evidence.

Fakes news and propaganda is part of the internet, it's not something to go to war over (I know you didn't say that, but this is what Russia is deemed to have been involved in, no more speculation as yet). Even if a greater involvement was uncovered usually sanctions and/or diplomatic attempts at recourse is better than getting the guns and tanks good to go to start killing people. Let us not make George Bush and Tony Blair look like the good guys steamrolling into wars.