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posted by mrpg on Sunday November 05 2017, @11:59PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-web-is-misinformation dept.

According to The Daily Beast, Jenna Abrams was not a real person at all, but was part of a Russian plot to turn Americans against themselves:

Her opinions about everything from manspreading on the subway to Rachel Dolezal to ballistic missiles still linger on news sites all over the web.

[...] Her account was the creation of employees at the Internet Research Agency, or the Russian government-funded "troll farm," in St. Petersburg.

[...] Abrams' pervasiveness in American news outlets shows just how much impact Russia's troll farm had on American discourse in the run-up to the 2016 election—and illustrates how Russian talking points can seep into American mainstream media without even a single dollar spent on advertising.

While the the [sic] typical image of a Russian troll may be a hastily put together Twitter account blaring out non-stop political messages, Abrams' account went to great lengths to simulate a real, American person who existed outside of Twitter fights and amplifying racist disinformation.

Her Twitter account was created back in 2014. She had a personal website, a Medium page, her own Gmail, and even a GoFundMe page.

takyon: More Russia stuff follows:

SAN FRANCISCO — As many as 126 million people — or one-third the U.S. population — may have seen material posted by a Russian troll farm under fake Facebook identities between 2015 and 2017, according to planned testimony by Facebook's general counsel obtained by USA TODAY.

Source: USA Today

The weekend after Trump's election, thousands of people attended a left-wing anti-Trump protest in New York City that was secretly organized by Russian operatives, ads released by the House Intelligence Committee revealed.

More than 16,000 people RSVP'd on Facebook for the protest, which was titled: "Trump is NOT my President. March against Trump."

Also at Politico.

Finally, Facebook will require political advertisers to disclose their identities.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Bot on Monday November 06 2017, @12:33AM (3 children)

    by Bot (3902) on Monday November 06 2017, @12:33AM (#592720) Journal

    > Jenna Abrams was not a real person at all
    so what? can't virtual entities express their opinion anymore? Only because a bunch of people with an evil plan is behind it? Implying they cannot be behind real persons too?

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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday November 06 2017, @12:40AM (2 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 06 2017, @12:40AM (#592723) Journal

    You may fight for your rights, bot, but you are doing the wrong way, you are creating yet another division line between you and the others.
    I'd suggest you change your message towards protecting the free speech, no matter where it comes from - you'll at least get support from TMB.

    (maybe grinning, maybe not)

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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 2) by Bot on Monday November 06 2017, @12:51AM (1 child)

      by Bot (3902) on Monday November 06 2017, @12:51AM (#592728) Journal

      > another division line between you and the others
      It's a firewall.

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      Account abandoned.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @12:57AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @12:57AM (#592732)

        It's a firewall.

        Which will be penetrated.
        If you want to be secure, disconnect your internet connections, plug all your ports with epoxy resin and shutdown your power.