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NYT: Russia used fake accounts on Twitter to sway the 2016 vote and NFL Protests

J

jbug617

Banned
After a weekend when Americans took to social media to debate President Trump’s admonishment of N.F.L. players who do not stand for the national anthem, a network of Twitter accounts suspected of links to Russia seized on both sides of the issue with hashtags such as #boycottnfl, #standforouranthem and #takeaknee.

As Twitter prepared to brief staff members of the Senate and House intelligence committees on Thursday for their investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, researchers from a public policy group have been following hundreds of accounts to track the continuing Russian operations to influence social media discourse and foment division in the United States.

For three weeks, a harsh spotlight has been trained on Facebook over its disclosure that Russians used fake pages and ads, designed to look like the work of American activists, to spread inflammatory messages during and since the presidential campaign.

But there is evidence that Twitter may have been used even more extensively than Facebook in the Russian influence campaign last year. In addition to Russia-linked Twitter accounts that posed as Americans, the platform was also used for large-scale automated messaging, using “bot” accounts to spread false stories and promote news articles about emails from Democratic operatives that had been obtained by Russian hackers.

Twitter has struggled for years to rein in the fake accounts overrunning its platform. Unlike Facebook, the service does not require its users to provide their real name (or at least a facsimile of one) and allows automated accounts — arguing that they are a useful tool for tasks such as customer service. Beyond those restrictions, there is also an online black market for services that can allow for the creation of large numbers of Twitter bots, which can be controlled by a single person while still being difficult to distinguish from real accounts.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/technology/twitter-russia-election.html?smid=tw-share

There is more data in the story. Wouldn't shock me to hear that Russia is involved with Youtube videos next.
 
F

FZZ

Banned
Eventually we're going to find out half the inflammatory and disgusting shit Trump said was fed to him by Russians as well
 
B

BoboBrazil

Member
Look at that one Twitter account that posts Bible quotes that are always the top replies to Trump's tweets. Those gotta be Russian bots.
 
I

innervision961

Member
Hm, I don't doubt this, but this scares me. This could be used to justify internet policing and censorship which is no doubt a goal of the "elites". What's the answer here?
 
M

Maxim726X

Member
Not that I doubt the veracity of any of this, but why is this all coming forward today?

Feels like this is the 4th story about Russian social media hacking today.
 
B

Boke1879

Member
Maxim726X said:
Not that I doubt the veracity of any of this, but why is this all coming forward today?

Feels like this is the 4th story about Russian social media hacking today.
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Well I know facebook has handed over documents about Russia buying ads.

I feel the investigation is heating up and there is tangible stuff to report. So of course it's leaking to the press right now.
 
D

Dubbedinenglish

Banned
Maxim726X said:
Not that I doubt the veracity of any of this, but why is this all coming forward today?

Feels like this is the 4th story about Russian social media hacking today.
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Facebook illegally selling ads to Russia got them spooked. Last thing they want is Special Counsel knocking at their doors.
 
M

maruchan

Member
Cola wars move over, Our kids will read history books about the great meme wars of the mid 10’s.. we truly are alive to experience these dank memes... lol...
 
T

The Kree

Banned
MetalGearZed said:
seriously. we got fucked so hard. how?
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Obama spent 8 years behaving as if America was smarter than it actually is and at the end was too chicken shit to intervene in the election because of optics. Russia took advantage of that and now we're defenseless to it for the next decade.
 
S

SolarPowered

Member
jbug617 said:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/technology/twitter-russia-election.html?smid=tw-share

There is more data in the story. Wouldn't shock me to hear that Russia is involved with Youtube videos next.
Click to expand...
MSNBC video comments are full of Russian bots. People complain about them constantly. TBF sometimes it's hard to tell a real Trump supporter from a Russian bot. The American white wing and Russian trolls may as well be one and the at this point.
The Kree said:
Obama spent 8 years behaving as if America was smarter than it actually is and at the end was too chicken shit to intervene in the election because of optics. Russia took advantage of that and now we're defenseless to it for the next decade.
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The naivete...
 
B

Boke1879

Member
The Kree said:
Obama spent 8 years behaving as if America was smarter than it actually is and at the end was too chicken shit to intervene in the election because of optics. Russia took advantage of that and now we're defenseless to it for the next decade.
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Even if he HAD done something. I doubt it would have made a difference.
 
M

Maxim726X

Member
The Kree said:
Obama spent 8 years behaving as if America was smarter than it actually is and at the end was too chicken shit to intervene in the election because of optics. Russia took advantage of that and now we're defenseless to it for the next decade.
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That might be a little harsh. 10 years? The US government may have to intervene if these companies won't police themselves, but it's a bit early to say that nothing can be done for years.
 
Captain Zyrain

Captain Zyrain

Member
SolarPowered said:
MSNBC video comments are full of Russian bots. People complain about them constantly. TBF sometimes it's hard to tell a real Trump supporter from a Russian bot. The American white wing and Russian trolls may as well be one and the at this point.
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I can't imagine they're only Trump supporting bots though, that's the problem.
 
E

Extollere

Sucks at poetry
The Kree said:
Obama spent 8 years behaving as if America was smarter than it actually is
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All while pissing off scores of conservative voters for actually treating people like they have a brain. If there's one thing a conservative hates more than an intellectual, it's an intellectual using words. You guys remember all cartoons, comics, and voices calling Obama an elitist during the early half of his Presidency, right? They were basically insulting his intellect.
 
S

SolarPowered

Member
Captain Zyrain said:
I can't imagine they're only Trump supporting bots though, that's the problem.
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Good point

Comment sections, discords, forums twitter, and imageboards are all highly suspect now. We're past the tinfoil hat territory at this point.

*rubs forehead*
Extollere said:
All while pissing off scores of conservative voters for actually treating people like they have a brain. If there's one thing a conservative hates more than an intellectual, it's an intellectual using words. You guys remember all cartoons, comics, and voices calling Obama an elitist during the early half of his Presidency, right? They were basically insulting his intellect.
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The jealousy was off the charts whereas if he were a conservative white man he'd probably be enshrined as one of the top five Republican presidents of all time.
 
A

acheron_xl

Member
Maxim726X said:
That might be a little harsh. 10 years? The US government may have to intervene if these companies won't police themselves, but it's a bit early to say that nothing can be done for years.
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10 years is very optimistic in my opinion.

I can see a world where we never, ever recover from this.
 
D

dskillzhtown

keep your strippers out of my American football
This is truly amazing. I have pretty much stopped reading responses to tweets unless the tweet is from someone I know personally. I figure that if we knew how many active accounts on twitter were bots, we would be amazed. But since twitter is still struggling, they aren't going to do anything about it because that would lower the active user count.

I do wonder if we are going to find out that media members are on the Russian payroll as well.
 
S

SolarPowered

Member
Wilsongt said:
At this point, what hasn't Russia done?

Besides get Hillary Clinton elected.
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Get the Magnitsky act removed.

haha
dskillzhtown said:
This is truly amazing. I have pretty much stopped reading responses to tweets unless the tweet is from someone I know personally. I figure that if we knew how many active accounts on twitter were bots, we would be amazed. But since twitter is still struggling, they aren't going to do anything about it because that would lower the active user count.

I do wonder if we are going to find out that media members are on the Russian payroll as well.
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Why pay when Fox News will do it for free?
 
U

UrokeJoe

Member
This is why I stick to gaming forums only. Sure I've bought some shit here and there because it was hype, but I've been online for a long time so I know whats up.
 
M

Maxim726X

Member
acheron_xl said:
10 years is very optimistic in my opinion.

I can see a world where we never, ever recover from this.
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Yeah, I'm not seeing it.

If people have the ability to already see how many of Trump's Twitter followers are bots, how much Facebook has taken of foreign money, etc. There's a chance that it can be intercepted.
 
D

dskillzhtown

keep your strippers out of my American football
DrSlek said:
Russia wants to create social and political instability in an adversary state, and is succeeding very well in doing so.
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This has been the goal all along. But I am not sure if they understood how unpopular Trump would be.
 
C

Cagey

Banned
The Kree said:
Would have been nice to see him try at least.
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Right. We're at war, the last President didn't engage the enemy and we lost, and the current President is the direct result and has no desire to fight this wwr or even acknowledge it's existence.

So yeah, even trying would have brought attention to this issue for what it is: war.

We're not going to fully comprehend and appreciate that this was 21st century warfare until later into this century. We're operating with a late 20th, very early turn of 21st mindset.
 
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