PAPER DEADLINE EXTENSION TO MONDAY, OCTOBER 30
Jeffrey M. Jones at Gallup attention to political news.
Social media ditching news (h/t Charlie)
For Monday, Dunaway, ch. 11. (ch. 12 of 10th ed.)
Media and Foreign Influence in general
Flattering interviewees (an actual email to yours truly):
Dear John ,
I hope all is well.
I would like to introduce myself again. I would like to introduce myself. My name is XXX I’m an international producer for Russian Television - Channel One that based in Moscow, Russia. We also have offices in New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles. “Chanel One” is a number one broadcasting company in Russia and also very popular in Russian Community around the world. We have over 250 million audience in 190 Countries. Channel One is as big in Russia as CNN and FOX in US.
We have been working on our weekly news show "Sunday times" about Donald Trump's meeting with Putin. Our network's CEO Mr. Ernst asked me to contact you and include you in our show. He really would like to have you as a part of our show. You opinion is very important for Russian audience.
...
You are very well known in Russia. Russian politicians and regular people look up to you as a peer where they watch your interviews and follow you on social media for inspiring messages. It would be such an honor and pleasure to meet you in person and film an interview with you.
Russia and 2016: The Internet Research Agency (Now Project Lakhta)
Indictment
From a 2019 Senate report:
The Committee found that Russia's targeting of the 2016 U.S. presidential election was part of a broader, sophisticated, and ongoing information warfare campaign designed to sow discord in American politics and society. Moreover, the IRA conducted a vastly
more complex and strategic assault on the United States than was initially understood. The IR.A's actions in 2016 represent only the latest installment in an increasingly brazen interference by the Kremlin on the citizens and democratic institutions of the United
States.
...
The Committee found that no single group of Americans was targeted by IRA information operatives more than African-Americans. By far, race and related issues were the preferred target of the information warfare campaign designed to divide the country in 2016. Examples and a story about "Black Fist"
The report also explains the role of payload content:
In practice, the IRA's influence operatives dedicated the balance of their effort to establishing the credibility of their online personas, such as by posting .innocuous content designed to appeal to like-minded users. This innocuous content allowed IRA influence operatives to build character details for their fake personas, such as a conservative Southerner or a liberal activist, until the opportune moment arrived when the account was used to deliver tailored "payload content" designed to influence the targeted user. By this concept of operations, the volume and content of posts can obscure the actual objective behind the influence operation. "If you're running a propaganda outfit, most of what you publish is factual so that you're taken seriously," Graphika CEO and TAG researcher John Kelly described to the Commttee, "[T]hen you can slip in the wrong thing at exactly the right time."
(U) The tactic of using select payload messages among a large volume of innocuous content to attract and cultivate an online following is reflected in the posts made to the IRA's "Army of Jesus" Facebook page. The page, which had attracted over 216,000 followers by the time it was taken down by Facebook for violating the platform's terms of service, purported to be devoted to Christian themes and Bible passages. The page's content was largely consistent with this facade. The following series of posts from the "Army of Jesus" page illustrates the use of this tactic, with the majority of posts largely consistent with the page's theme, excepting the November 1, 2016 post that represents the IRA's payload content:
- October 26, 2016: "There has never been a day when people did not need to walk with Jesus."
- October 29, 2016: "I've got Jesus in my soul. It's the only way I know .... Watching every move I make, guiding every step I take!"
- October 31, 2016: "Rise and shine-realize His blessing!"
- October 31, 2016: "Jesus will always be by your side. Just reach out to Him and you'll see!"
- November 1, 2016: "HILLARY APPROVES REMOVAL OF GOD FROM THE
- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE."
- November 2, 2016: "Never hold on anything [sic] tighter than you holding unto God!"
House Intelligence held a hearing in 2017. From the committee minority staff:
Russia exploited real vulnerabilities that exist across online platforms and we must identify, expose, and defend ourselves against similar covert influence operations in the future. The companies here today must play a central role as we seek to better protect legitimate political expression, while preventing cyberspace from being misused by our adversaries.
- Memo Describing Representative Sampling of Advertising
- Exhibits Used During Open Hearing
- Additional Advertising Not Used During Open Hearing
- Russian-linked Twitter Handles
As the hacking and dissemination of emails unfolded, then-candidate Trump regularly drummed the idea that the election was rigged. In parallel, WikiLeaks had suggested to Donald Trump Jr. that the campaign should challenge the election results should Mr. Trump lose. On October 21, 2016, WikiLeaks sent Donald Trump Jr. a Twitter direct message: “Hi Don, if your father ‘loses’ we think it is much more interesting if he DOES NOT concede and spends time CHALLENGING the media and other types of rigging that occurred – as he has implied that he might do.”
But to end on an inspiring note:
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