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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: 5, Insightful) by Pav on Monday November 06 2017, @02:29AM (3 children)

    by Pav (114) on Monday November 06 2017, @02:29AM (#592772)

    Repetition (repetition, repetition, repetition) is the oldest mind control trick known to man. Just because things are repeated so often (without evidence) doesn't make them true - even if a significant portion of the population has taken it on. I'm sure the Russians had a preference for who they wanted, as did many countries. The major allegations have turned out to be baseless though (hacking and leaks), and the recent pivot into Facebook and Twitter ads (I repeat, Facebook and Twitter ads!!!) is just pathetic. The fact is though that a neoliberal warmonger who unabashedly wore that on her slieve was never going to mobilise traditional Dem voters. Barack Obama only did because he lied. No "Hope and Change", and when that became obvious he lost Congress.

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @04:11AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @04:11AM (#592828)

    You are willfully misinterpreting arguments. Russian "hacking" was very early focused on influencing via social media, and actual voting machine being breached or tallies being changed was never claimed anywhere by anyone that I recall.

    If you aren't being purposely obstinate, maybe it's time to broaden your news sources.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @03:09PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @03:09PM (#593074)

      It was not claimed directly, but consistently implied.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @08:11PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @08:11PM (#593279)

        It was not claimed directly, but consistently implied.

        'Cause that is how the Lizard People roll! That is what they want you to think, or just be implicated of! I tell you, it is a vast ctl-left conspiracy out there, and they are putting stuff in our water (flouride) and in our air (con-trails!!!1!), and in our food (kale!).