Thousands of news articles unknowingly quoted Russian propaganda bots
12 replies, posted
[url]https://www.recode.net/2017/11/3/16599816/washington-post-mcclatchy-miami-herald-ap-russian-propaganda-twitter[/url]
[quote]The tweet that opened a story in the Washington Post on Feb. 11, 2016 seemed innocuous: It was an attempt to illustrate Syrian territory occupied by clashing government and ISIS forces.
Problem is, the account behind that tweet — @WarfareWW — was one of 2,752 Twitter trolls identified this week as tied to the Russian government and suspended for spreading disinformation.
U.S. lawmakers are probing the extent of the Kremlin’s campaign to disrupt last year’s presidential election and have focused their latest efforts on tech platforms like Twitter.
But new data show that many news publications — from established outfits like the Post, the Miami Herald (owned by McClatchy), Buzzfeed, CBS and even Vox, to controversial alt-right hubs like InfoWars — were duped into citing some of these nefarious tweets in their coverage, perhaps unwittingly amplifying the reach of Russian propaganda.[/quote]
im glad the world is finally waking up to russia's bullshit (again)
Almost as if news agencies shouldn't use random Tweets as news.
[QUOTE=Alxnotorious;52852687]Almost as if news agencies shouldn't use random Tweets as news.[/QUOTE]
[t]https://i.imgur.com/t6nNUe5.png[/t]
[QUOTE=Alxnotorious;52852687]Almost as if news agencies shouldn't use random Tweets as news.[/QUOTE]
Modern journalists need to quit using unverified and untrustable sources as news for information.
Someone summarizing an event in 180 characters or less shouldn't end up in a news article.
Is the media still trying to deflect from the fact that they were the reason that Trump got elected? I'm fairly sure them talking about Trump 24/7 and 95% of them saying that Hillary would win, had a much bigger impact then some shit posts on the internet. Like, do they think people are actually dumb enough that they think seeing a post about a frog tipping his hat made someone go out and vote for Trump?
[QUOTE=dark soul;52855139]Is the media still trying to deflect from the fact that they were the reason that Trump got elected? I'm fairly sure them talking about Trump 24/7 and 95% of them saying that Hillary would win, had a much bigger impact then some shit posts on the internet. Like, do they think people are actually dumb enough that they think seeing a post about a frog tipping his hat made someone go out and vote for Trump?[/QUOTE]
I mean I dunno about the first part, but I absolutely do believe that there is a sizable portion of the population who would vote for someone just because of dumb memes
[QUOTE=dark soul;52855139]Is the media still trying to deflect from the fact that they were the reason that Trump got elected? I'm fairly sure them talking about Trump 24/7 and 95% of them saying that Hillary would win, had a much bigger impact then some shit posts on the internet. Like, do they think people are actually dumb enough that they think seeing a post about a frog tipping his hat made someone go out and vote for Trump?[/QUOTE]
I believe that there are multiple factors involved, including Russian meddling, but also the constant news coverage of trump. He was (is) controversial, and that translates into ad revenue for them.
Given how narrowly Trump won several swing states to nab the EC and the fact that we now [I]know[/I] that Russia was buying propaganda Facebook advertising with [B]very particular targeting demographics[/B] and very likely had hacked voter registration lists, I attribute Trump winning to Russian interference.
But Trump wouldn't have even been the Republican candidate if it weren't for the media giving him the exact thing his deceitful bigoted populist message needed: a massive, constant, controversial platform repeating everything he said. Trump needed outlets who would repeat his controversial statements and that's precisely what he got from every media outlet in the country except [URL="https://www.promonthly.com/ezine"]Portable Restroom Operator[/URL], the trade magazine for the portapotty industry.
[QUOTE=dark soul;52855139]Is the media still trying to deflect from the fact that they were the reason that Trump got elected? I'm fairly sure them talking about Trump 24/7 and 95% of them saying that Hillary would win, had a much bigger impact then some shit posts on the internet. Like, do they think people are actually dumb enough that they think seeing a post about a frog tipping his hat made someone go out and vote for Trump?[/QUOTE]
Russian propaganda went way beyond frog memes. Spreading fake news about Clinton conspiracies and sowing discontent in America as well as encouraging violence across racial and ideological lines is pretty serious, a bit moreso than "frog tippin his hat".
Yes, popular lighthearted facebook memes like "frog tipping his hat" and [URL="https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1578518"]"mine the Mexican border instead of building a wall" featuring a depiction of a (presumably-)Mexican exploding on a landmine[/URL] are harmless, guys. :downs:
[t]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DJNORehUMAA5fkH.jpg[/t]
[URL="https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1578518&p=52677074&viewfull=1#post52677074"]The depressing thing is that this shit worked and FP contains proof.[/URL]
[QUOTE=dark soul;52855139]Like, do they think people are actually dumb enough that they think seeing a post about a frog tipping his hat made someone go out and vote for Trump?[/QUOTE]
Well, I mean, they [I]did [/I]vote for Trump.
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