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[Battersea Power Station]

http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/28/media/blacktivist-russia-facebook-twitter/index.html

A social media campaign calling itself "Blacktivist" and linked to the Russian government used both Facebook and Twitter in an apparent attempt to amplify racial tensions during the U.S. presidential election, two sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN. The Twitter account has been handed over to Congress; the Facebook account is expected to be handed over in the coming days.

The Blacktivist Facebook account was among the 470 Russian-linked accounts identified by the social media network and disclosed to Congress earlier this month, the sources said. The matching Twitter account was among the roughly 200 accounts Twitter identified with links to those found by Facebook.
Facebook shared its findings about the accounts with Twitter, enabling Twitter to identify 22 matching accounts and an additional 179 accounts that linked back to those accounts, the sources said. This matching process went beyond public-facing similarities and included private information that could link the accounts.
All of the ads handed over by Facebook were linked to the Internet Research Agency, a shadowy company that U.S. military intelligence has described as "a state-funded organization that blogs and tweets on behalf of the Kremlin." A senior Kremlin spokesman said last week that Russia did not buy ads on Facebook to influence the election.

 

[pants]

The Twitter account, @Blacktivists, provided several clues that in hindsight indicate it was not what it purported to be. In several tweets, it employed awkward phrasing that a native English speaker would be unlikely to use. It also consistently posted using an apostrophe facing the wrong way, i.e. "it`s" instead of "it's."

hahahahahahaha

 

[Oberon]

hahahahahahaha

Trumps twitter confirmed for russian bot?

 

[Valhelm]

That's interesting. Twitter is full of obviously fake Black Lives Matter and Antifa accounts that talk about killing white people, but I would have thought they were run by our own alt-right dipshits rather than actual Russian agents

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

Trumps twitter confirmed for russian bot?

We already know he's a Russian finger puppet

 

[Ishan]

Anecdotal but I saw a fb post (you know trending and flow of ppl who made a statement on it ) the other day and I just clicked to see what this person does etc and all I could see is just pro trump anti dem photos ? I assumed it's a bot ... But are there ppl like that who are just on fb with nothing about themselves just posts on politics photos about politics ? I'm assuming as I said a bot but if there are people who do that Jesus?

 

[SuperBanana]

Whoops.

 

[Kill Your Masters]

That's interesting. Twitter is full of obviously fake Black Lives Matter and Antifa accounts that talk about killing white people, but I would have thought they were run by our own alt-right dipshits rather than actual Russian agents

Feels like Russia pretty much controls (or tries to steer in a certain direction) a lot of the narrative in the US about many issues. Twitter doesn't care, GOPers would love to be oligarchs themselves, and apparently even Russians are entitled to 1st amendment freeze peach to dismantle the US from the inside.

 

[whitemex88]

Playeduslikeafiddle.gif

 

[red731]

лмао

 

[gutter_trash]

chaos

 

[andythinkpad]

It's interesting Putin the spymaster put so much resource into it while China completely limit their social media effort internally.

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

boycott facebook.

 

[Amalthea]

Putin be like "Ha, take this Americans, I make you look like fool!" while his people keep dying from alcoholism, freak accidents and lack of heating.

 

[CadetMahoney]

dank meme cold war

 

[SapientWolf]

Putin be like "Ha, take this Americans, I make you look like fool!" while his people keep dying from alcoholism, freak accidents and lack of heating.

Burn the alcohol for heat. Problem solved.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Russia is just fucking us every which way, aren't they?

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

And Cold War II will be fought with internet memes.

 

[Xisiqomelir]

Whoops.

Please post more of these

 

[NoblesseOblige]

We already know he's a Russian finger puppet

I think Putin has his whole hand up there.

 

[Joe T.]

It's interesting Putin the spymaster put so much resource into it while China completely limit their social media effort internally.

You should see the facial recognition software they've got available on their most popular social networking site VK. If the public had access to such an app in the west it would take stalking to a whole new level, as Russian sex workers and criminals have learned.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

Once again, read this excerpt from the Wiki article for the KGB geopolitical playbook (written in 1997) that Putin's government has been employing to a "T":

Foundations of Geopolitics

The book emphasizes that Russia must spread Anti-Americanism everywhere: "the main 'scapegoat' will be precisely the U.S."

In the United States:

Russia should use its special services within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism, for instance, provoke "Afro-American racists". Russia should "introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics."[2]

The Russian government is cartoon evil.

 

[Palette Swap]

That's interesting. Twitter is full of obviously fake Black Lives Matter and Antifa accounts that talk about killing white people, but I would have thought they were run by our own alt-right dipshits rather than actual Russian agents

I guess the point is that it’s a pretty thin line between the two.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Once again, read this excerpt from the Wiki article for the KGB geopolitical playbook (written in 1997) that Putin's government has been employing to a "T":

Foundations of Geopolitics



The Russian government is cartoon evil.

Evil, or knows America all too well? If it's a cartoon, it would be so ridiculous that it can't possibly work. However, it worked like a charm.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

I guess the point is that it’s a pretty thin line between the two.

That's the point: the Russian trolls are instigating the American racists to sow political discord and unrest in the US. And it is working like a charm because social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are too fucking greedy and apathetic themselves to mitigate the Russian's disastrous propaganda and PSYOPing.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

So Russia is playing some serious 3D Chess

 

[timetokill]

Once again, read this excerpt from the Wiki article for the KGB geopolitical playbook (written in 1997) that Putin's government has been employing to a "T":

Foundations of Geopolitics

The Russian government is cartoon evil.

So by inventing the internet we've created the tool of our own destruction

 

[Muppet of a Man]

So Russia is playing some serious 3D Chess

They've been playing since 1997; yet we've only noticed what they were doing recently.

I'd say that's some serious 3D Chess.

 

[Not]

We deserve this

 

[Nikodemos]

They've been playing since 1997; yet we've only noticed what they were doing recently.

I'd say that's some serious 3D Chess.

Not really. As long as Eltzin was around, Russia was still content on smacking around small countries close to itself. Even Putin didn't start expanding until late-ish 2007. The Georgian War in 2008 was his first foreign 'venture', and it was extremely successful, given that the West bought Russia's carefully curated bullshit hook, line and sinker. They made Georgia look like the bad guy.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

Not really. As long as Eltzin was around, Russia was still content on smacking around small countries close to itself. Even Putin didn't start expanding until late-ish 2007. The Georgian War in 2008 was his first foreign 'venture', and it was extremely successful, given that the West bought Russia's carefully curated bullshit hook, line and sinker. They made Georgia look like the bad guy.

The whole Georgia ordeal was one of the goals outlined by the book. So, yeah, they accomplished that with flying colors.

But using the weight and influence of their natural resources to bully the former soviet bloc countries is a goal outlined in the book, as well.

 

[CelticKnight]

Whoops.

I think that's fake. Read somewhere it was just a troll account taking the piss.

 

[Alchemy]

Putin be like "Ha, take this Americans, I make you look like fool!" while his people keep dying from alcoholism, freak accidents and lack of heating.

I mean Putin doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself and his circle of oligarchs. Russia doesn't fucking care how bad their "economy" is as long as the top get everything they want.

 

[chaobreaker]

The sad thing about this is that these Russian goverment trolls are sowing discontent by merely playing an exaggerated role of a black activist. That's it. They aren't lying when they share police beatings or invitations to rallies. They're weaponizing facts. How do you fight against that?

 

[Media]

dank meme cold war

You joke, but this massive cyber attack could literally be named Meme War I.


Edit: also I've always wondered how random ass crazy people get found and used as ammo against the causes they 'support' insanely, and this explains it. Russian troll posts crazy ass shit stirring stuff, and the directs a shit ton of bots to 'react' to it. It's kinda brilliant but so fucking wrong.

 

[Nikodemos]

The sad thing about this is that these Russian goverment trolls are sowing discontent by merely playing an exaggerated role of a black activist. That's it. They aren't lying when they share police beatings or invitations to rallies. They're weaponizing facts. How do you fight against that?

By hitting the messenger, rather than the message.

One of the rules of Western 'conduct' (for lack of a better word) is "attack the message, not the messenger". Surkov's brand of psyops is to corrupt the message by having it delivered by a bad-faith messenger, thus subverting the above ideal. Surkov is the guy who basically runs Putin's Ministry of Truth.

It is important to find out not just what is said, but also who said it.

I personally use a very simple rule of thumb: if it comes from Russia, it's always a lie, even if factually true. Makes it far easier to cut through the bullshit, because once you've established it's a lie, you can then move on to find out whom it targets and whom it benefits.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

By hitting the messenger, rather than the message.

One of the rules of Western 'conduct' (for lack of a better word) is "attack the message, not the messenger". Surkov's brand of psyops is to corrupt the message by having it delivered by a bad-faith messenger, thus subverting the above ideal. Surkov is the guy who basically runs Putin's Ministry of Truth.

It is important to find out not just what is said, but also who said it.

I personally use a very simple rule of thumb: if it comes from Russia, it's always a lie, even if factually true. Makes it far easier to cut through the bullshit, because once you've established it's a lie, you can then move on to find out whom it targets and whom it benefits.

This. The documentary HyperNormalisation touches on Surkov's Ministry of Truth and its divide and conquer weaponized political theater tactics. By creating so much pandemonium and confusion as to cloud the truth of reality, the actors in control behind the scenes can act unimpeded.

 

[Oni Jazar]

Would be funny if it wasn't so terrifyingly effective.

 

[Oberon]

So Russia is playing some serious 3D Chess

 

[Slayven]

Thing about it is this shit is super obvious and only fool people who want to be fooled

 

[Souldriver]

It's so easy to destabilize western society by abusing social media to divide people, it's kinda incredible.

Something seriously has to change.

 

[llien]

So Russia is playing some serious 3D Chess

Had it been serious, we wouldn't see screenshots like that.

That Russia had paid internet trolls is not news:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...agandist-in-Russias-secret-troll-factory.html

Troll factories, aren't exclusively "vs other government" things, but could also "help" with viral marketing campaigns (including FUD, apparently).


What I wonder is, how could that be addressed, actually.

 

[ChryZ]

That's cocky, the election stuff wasn't enough, let's keep going, they are super dense and will probably not notice.

 

[andythinkpad]

So Russia is playing some serious 3D Chess

I think the real issue is United States actually has bigger achilles heel than what people traditional thought and the weakness has been exposed. This is the real way to bring down America the single nation state. It's time we have proper discussion of it in a new thread.

 

[UberTag]

So Russia is playing some serious 3D Chess

We all thought Trump was a Russian puppet but, in reality, the entire American electorate turned out to be Russian puppets without even realizing it.

 

[Messofanego]

This. The documentary HyperNormalisation touches on Surkov's Ministry of Truth and its divide and conquer weaponized political theater tactics. By creating so much pandemonium and confusion as to cloud the truth of reality, the actors in control behind the scenes can act unimpeded.

Yup, more people should watch Hypernormalisation to see why Russia wants to create confusion and chaos in the American political system.

 

[KarneeKarnay]

dank meme cold war

It's time to conscript 4 Chan and every 14 year old with an Xbox Live account. We need more Soviet Bear Memes stat!

 

[Slayven]

People need to ask why appeals to racism works so well, not just in America but world wide

 

[D6AMIA6N]

We’re simply seeing the tip of the iceberg. Every shared “news” story should be scrutinized and social media should be held accountable for spreading disinformation.

 

[Funky Papa]

They've been playing since 1997; yet we've only noticed what they were doing recently.

I'd say that's some serious 3D Chess.

Nah. Russia was an utter mess at the time. The way I see it, there's some payback for the meddling in Russian affairs that happened after the fall of the Soviet Union compounded with actual politics.

It shouldn't be shocking that this Time cover is floated around pro-Putin circles as "well, they had it coming anyway"*. Which is understandable, really. Putin was deputy chief of Yeltsin's Presidential Staff during that era and later became director of the FSB, so he was witness to the utter decay of the system and probably resents the way Russia went from being a superpower to being manhandled**. He's probably getting his pound of flesh while making sure to rebuild Russia's old sphere of influence.

*surprisingly enough (or not), you can even find it over RT in an article about Colbert of all things.

**it also explains a lot about his utter distaste towards the Clintons.