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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @12:40AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @12:40AM (#592724)

    I guess the alt-right really isn't a big deal if its leading figures have to be fabricated overseas to give the movement more sex appeal.

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday November 06 2017, @12:52AM (2 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 06 2017, @12:52AM (#592729) Journal

    I guess the alt-right really isn't a big deal if its leading figures have to be fabricated overseas to give the movement more sex appeal.

    Did it matter for the cases of "antifa bashing" or "white supremacist car-hit murder"?
    Let me note that it's not like a russian virtual persona got bashed or killed, it was one another person that called him/her-self American.

    Are you your own enemies? How's something good gonna get out of this?
    (and no, blaming russians is not going to solve your problem)

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by jelizondo on Monday November 06 2017, @01:09AM

      by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 06 2017, @01:09AM (#592739) Journal

      We have met the enemy, and he is us! [wikipedia.org]

    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @01:50AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06 2017, @01:50AM (#592757)

      It isn't clear if you believe the "white supremacist car-hit murder" to be real. FYI, it is not. It's nearly pure fake news.

      Yes, there was a car and somebody died. No, they were not hit by the car, nor was the car driven by a white supremacist.