http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-russian-facebook-ads-20171101-story.html
I looked at Faux Noise (Fox "News") web site, and had to go down seven pages before I got to a mention of this.
Eric Tucker and Mary Clare Jalonick
Associated Press
Nov. 1, 2017
A trove of Facebook ads made public Wednesday by Congress depicts Russia's extraordinary cyber intrusion into American life in 2016 aimed at upending the nation's democratic debate and fomenting discord over such disparate issues as immigration, gun control and politics.
The ads, seen by vast numbers of people, encouraged street demonstrations against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and fostered support and opposition to Bernie Sanders, Muslims, gays, blacks and the icons of the Civil Rights movement.
•••••
The ads underscore how foreign agents sought to sow confusion, anger and discord among Americans through messages on hot-button topics. U.S. intelligence services say the Russian use of social media was part of a broad effort to sway the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump. Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether the Kremlin worked with the Trump campaign to influence voters.
•••••
In preparation for hearings this week, Facebook disclosed that content generated by a Russian group, the Internet Research Agency, potentially reached as many as 126 million users. Company executives said that going forward they would verify political ad buyers in federal elections, requiring them to reveal correct names and locations. The site will also create new graphics where users can click on the ads and find out more about who's behind them.
Safe to say people who do things like this will lie about who they are and where they are located.
•••••
Several ads touting Facebook pages called "Back the Badge," ''Being Patriotic," ''Blacktivist," ''South United" and "Woke Blacks" were labeled as being paid for in rubles using Qiwi, a Moscow-based payment provider that aims to serve "the new generation in Russia" and former Soviet republics, according to the company's website.
•••••
Besides the ads released by lawmakers on the House intelligence committee, Democrats on the panel also released four tweets from RT, a Russian state-sponsored television network, and nearly 3,000 Twitter handles active during the final months of the election campaign.
Taken together, they show how actual news events and stories helped shape surreptitious Russian messaging.
•••••
Not all of Russia's activity was intended to intervene in the election, said Salve Regina University professor James Ludes, who has written on Russia's influence on the United States.
The ads on divisive issues such as race and gun ownership — or even organizing opposing rallies across the street from each other — are meant to "attack political cohesion" and make Americans turn against one another, he said.
"It's not intended to benefit once candidate or another per se, but raise political temperature," Ludes said. "Make us feel like we are coming apart at the seams."
No comments:
Post a Comment