Support NeoGAF

[WedgeX]

In early 2016, while researching some of the most popular U.S. secession groups online, I stumbled across one of the Russian-controlled Facebook accounts that were then pulling in Americans by the thousands.


At the time, I was writing on Russia’s relationship with American secessionists from Texas, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. These were people who had hitched flights to Moscow to swap tactics, to offer advice and to find support. They had found succor in the shadow of the Kremlin.


That was how I eventually found my way to the “Heart of Texas” Facebook page (and its @itstimetosecede Twitter feed as well). Heart of Texas soon grew into the most popular Texas secession page on Facebook — one that, at one point in 2016, boasted more followers than the official Texas Democrat and Republican Facebook pages combined. By the time Facebook took the page down recently, it had a quarter of a million followers.

But Heart of Texas, sadly, was no joke. At one point the page’s organizers even managed to stir up its followers into staging an armed, anti-Islamic protest in Houston. As gradually became clear, this was part of a broader strategy. The sponsors of the page were keen to exacerbate America’s own internal divisions. At certain moments they lent support to Black Lives Matter, while in others they would play to the latent (or obvious) racism of Donald Trump’s base.

...

By the summer of 2016, other themes began to emerge. Posts began to follow a perceptibly hard-right course, stressing Texas’s status as a “Christian state,” or touting the Second Amendment as a “symbol of freedom … so we would forever be free from any tyranny.” Some of the page’s contributors talked about the need to “keep Texas Texan,” whatever that meant. There was also a generous dollop of conspiracy theory. There were posts about the allegedly unnatural death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the supposed federal invasion orders behind the Jade Helm military exercise. Fake Founding Father quotes mingled with anti-Muslim screeds and paeans to Sam Houston. And the number of followers steadily crept into the hundreds of thousands.


...

And then, in August, it was gone. Just like that, the most popular Texas secession page on Facebook was revealed to be a Russian front, operated by the notorious Internet Research Agency, with Facebook removing all of the posts from public view. (It’s worth noting that another Instagram account started posting Heart of Texas material as soon as the original Facebook page was taken down.)

http://wapo.st/2yt7Cn9

Follow up from this thread:

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1410652

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the amount of idiots

 

[Beartruck]

Can we just block all internet traffic from Russia?

 

[Cyan]

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the amount of idiots

FWIW there's also a California secession movement... headquartered in Russia. It was even more blatant than this, and still got some supporters.

 

[DarkJediKnight]

Isn't there a show called Americans, where Russian spies live among us as Americans?

 

[Kthulhu]

I despise the people who want us to leave the union. It ain't ever gonna happen.

 

[Makonero]

It's frightening how easy it is to whip people into a frenzy over nothing. These are literal foreign imposters who are "the real Texans" and now there are real Texans who probably think it's all a conspiracy against "real Texans."

Our country is broken. There's no doubt about it.

 

[RurouniZel]

Can we just block all internet traffic from Russia?

They'd just redirect it from somewhere else.

 

[Electric Eye]

The Calexit shit is probably also Russian BS.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Can we just block all internet traffic from Russia?

Can we cut Russia off from the internet? The US controls the DNS, doesn't it?

 

[EMT0]

It's a weird as hell feeling to go from thinking the Red Scare was one of the dumbest things America undertook during the Cold War, to completely sympathizing with the need for it and wishing it'd return as the Russian Scare. Russia can't be trusted.

 

[Isaac Otherworld]

FWIW there's also a California secession movement... headquartered in Russia. It was even more blatant than this, and still got some supporters.

To be fair, it popped up after Trump won and "Fuck this country" is the natural emotional response to that.

 

[Master Yoshi]

Idiot nation.

 

[facelike]

The Calexit shit is probably also Russian BS.

Not probably, it really is.

 

[Mr. Giggles]

Damn, Facebook gots some splainin to do

 

[Shoeless]

I'm sure this will all sort itself out once all the colored people get out of America, and the Indians go back to India, leaving America as it always has been; a home for white people who believe in God, having babies, and loving only women who know their place is in the kitchen.

Then, and only then, will America be great again.

 

[Kthulhu]

Can we cut Russia off from the internet? The US controls the DNS, doesn't it?

Yeah, no possible negative consequences for that /s

 

[NealMcCauley]

You'd think the recipes for Texas Caviar calling for fish eggs would have been a dead giveaway.

 

[Skellig Gra]

Not probably, it really is.

And a lot of people on GAF bought it

 

[Fastrun]

"Yeehaw, fellow cowboys."

 

[OceanBlue]

I don't think this is something that will only happen to the right because they are stupid or something. Everyone needs to make sure they're well informed from a wide variety of trusted media sources and that they check their biases.

 

[Sectorseven]

Remember Alamo, comrade?

 

[gutshot]

FWIW there's also a California secession movement... headquartered in Russia. It was even more blatant than this, and still got some supporters.

Yup. Here's an interesting Twitter thread about it: https://twitter.com/conspirator0/status/919685801201537024

 

[tonysidaway]

Isn't there a show called Americans, where Russian spies live among us as Americans?

Yeah, curious thing about that. Although it's set in the 1980s, it's based in part on a collection of Russian spy cells that were busted as recently as 2010 in an investigation the Department of Justice called The Illegals Program.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegals_Program

 

[Capra]

Though the site’s authors understood their audience well, there was something off about their writing. The page’s “About” section proclaimed that “Texas’s the land protected by Lord [sic].” Grammatical and spelling glitches were everywhere: “In Love With Texas Shape,” “State Fair of Texas – Has You Already Visited?,” “Always Be Ready for a Texas Size,” “No Hypoclintos in the God Blessed Texas.” (Or take this caption for a photo of country music star George Strait: “Life is not breaths you take, but the moments that take your breth [sic] away.”) Yet the typos never seemed to raise any suspicions in readers’ minds.

...

 

[Steejee]

To be fair, it popped up after Trump won and "Fuck this country" is the natural emotional response to that.

To also be fair, I'd support New England (throw in NY too), along with WA/OR/CA all leaving and joining Canada. Yeah it's completely absurd, but so is having a lunatic as President with followers that love Russia now.

 

[Subpar Spatula]

I already have my Addidas tracksuit for when Russia overtakes everyone with these strats.

 

[Fastrun]

I don't think this is something that will only happen to the right because they are stupid or something. Everyone needs to make sure they're well informed from a wide variety of trusted media sources and that they check their biases.

It's not. Part of it is the Russians targeting everyone. They have Black Lives Matters and Antifa bot accounts on Twitter and they were pushing that Calexit crap. The goal is to divide everyone as much through all means. Including getting divisive people in office to further that divide.

 

[Slayven]

It's frightening how easy it is to whip people into a frenzy over nothing. These are literal foreign imposters who are "the real Texans" and now there are real Texans who probably think it's all a conspiracy against "real Texans."

Our country is broken. There's no doubt about it.

When you prime shit with racism and bigotry, you can get a lot of shit done in America.

 

[adj_noun]

I feel like I know how this goes.

"Sure, it was the Russians...BUT I don't care who it was when WHAT THEY WERE SAYING WAS RIGHT!"

 

[Skellig Gra]

Yup. Here's an interesting Twitter thread about it: https://twitter.com/conspirator0/status/919685801201537024

Man some of those tweets stats are ridiculous

 

[Reverend Funk]

FWIW there's also a California secession movement... headquartered in Russia. It was even more blatant than this, and still got some supporters.

I saw some people with a booth for that by the beach here in long beach

 

[thechristoph]

Damn, Facebook gots some splainin to do

How so? I mean, they did remove it.

 

[PantherLotus]

Can we just block all internet traffic from Russia?

I've been thinking about this. And then I think about how China essentially does this with traffic from the U.S. And then I wonder if we have some similar operation that Russia is conducting against us!

 

[Violet_0]

Russia is getting good at this. They know their 4th-dimensional chess

 

[PantherLotus]

"the typos never raised any suspicions" is some straight up "i don't really visit the internet often" kinda analysis. If anything it would be MORE suspicious if there were no typos. What are you, educated or something? This some frilly ass Ivy League experiment??

 

[Electric Eye]

Not probably, it really is.

You're right I think they admited it was run from outside California from the get go.

 

[Capra]

"the typos never raised any suspicions" is some straight up "i don't really visit the internet often" kinda analysis. If anything it would be MORE suspicious if there were no typos. What are you, educated or something? This some frilly ass Ivy League experiment??

The whole situation is objectively terrifying but I can't help but crack up when my mind reads “Always Be Ready for a Texas Size” in a thick faux-Russian accent.

 

[Kyzer]

"Yeehaw, fellow cowboys."

this made me laugh

 

[VendettaRed07]

Yeah, no possible negative consequences for that /s

I just think it’s funny how Russia can fuck with us all they want and not give a shit but whenever people argue for a response there’s always “we can’t do that! It would start ww3!”

Why wasn’t Russia worried about starting ww3 when they chose to fuck with us ?

 

[adj_noun]

If anything it would be MORE suspicious if there were no typos. What are you, educated or something? This some frilly ass Ivy League experiment??

.

 

[KernelPanic]

Can we just block all internet traffic from Russia?

They use VPNs and redirect traffic such that it rarely originates from Russia. If you were to block all traffic they’d just get around it.

The only way is to block bots and other disinformation campaigns on social media regardless of where they’re coming from as well as educate people to spot it and see it for what it is.

It would also help having a POTUS who’s tough on Russia. They won’t stop as they know there’s no consequences.

 

[jstripes]

I wouldn't doubt they've been stirring things up in Catalonia as well.

They know they'll never reach superpower status again, so spreading instability is the only way to keep them ahead in the world.

 

[dskillzhtown]

At certain moments they lent support to Black Lives Matter, while in others they would play to the latent (or obvious) racism of Donald Trump's base.

I totally remember this. A bunch of gun-toting white guys went into black communities trying to get people to arm themselves against the government and police. Russia played these people like puppets. Seeing the origins of that is surreal.

Actually...looking at how the governor supports most of what Russia was throwing out there, I wonder if he is an agent or if the Lt. Gov. is.

at one point in 2016, boasted more followers than the official Texas Democrat and Republican Facebook pages combined.

That is just crazy.

 

[Isaac Otherworld]

I totally remember this. A bunch of gun-toting white guys went into black communities trying to get people to arm themselves against the government and police. Russia played these people like puppets. Seeing the origins of that is surreal.

It's not about ideology. It's about sowing dissent and chaos. Russia is an organized crime syndicate thinly masquerading as a legitimate government. They don't care about ideology, it's about funneling money and wealth to the crime bosses in charge.

 

[Neoweee]

I wouldn't doubt they've been stirring things up in Catalonia as well.

They know they'll never reach superpower status again, so spreading instability is the only way to keep them ahead in the world.

They have. Assange is a "key influencer" in the Catalonian referendum.

That is just crazy.

Not really. Nobody really gives a shit about state-level political parties, or even knows much about them. Being completely oblivious to the state Democratic parties (and state election commissions) is a fundamental part of buying into crackpot DNC conspiracy theories, because one would need to know absolutely nothing about how political parties are structured in order to blame everything on the national committee.

 

[kess]

...

It's fun how in this Ayn Rand dystopia, liberal arts are dead and Russian capitalists have America by the balls.

 

[jstripes]

They have. Assange is a "key influencer" in the Catalonian referendum.

Ugh. It's only a matter of time until they turn their eyes on Quebec.

 

[Isaac Otherworld]

It's fun how in this Ayn Rand dystopia, liberal arts are dead and Russian capitalists have America by the balls.

I would have been really funny if in 2016 America elected Bernie, an open self described Socialist, while Russia had long since traded places having become a far right right nationalist semi fascist regime. It would be freaky friday, the nationstate version.

 

[jonezer4]

To be fair, it (California secession movement) popped up after Trump won and "Fuck this country" is the natural emotional response to that.

This is the kind of closed-minded, subjective thinking that keeps America divided (which is what Russia wants). When Conservatives fall for Russian provocation, they're idiots. When liberals fall for it, we're... not? We're somehow more justified? It's absurd.

They're using emotional response to incense Americans -- conservative and liberals. It's as wrong on one side as it is the other.