Russia thread

[zn]

Russia’s Election Meddling Targeted Activists and People of Color, Too

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2017/11/03/russia_s_election_meddling_targeted_activists_and_people_of_color.html

A famous black and white photograph of Black Panthers from 1968 is captioned with the words “never forget that the Black Panthers, group formed to protect black people from the KKK, was dismantled by us govt but the KKK exists today.” It was shared on Facebook at least 29,000 times and was intended get black Facebook users to follow a page called Blacktivist, so presumably they would then see its content without an ad.

Blacktivist, however, was operated by the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll group working to inflame political unrest in America by focusing on the country’s most socially sensitive topics. The ad was released Wednesday as part of a small sample of the thousands of Facebook ads and Twitter accounts used by the Internet Research Agency, a Kremlin-backed group. The release came after a mini-marathon of three congressional hearings in which executives from Facebook, Google, and Twitter submitted to rounds of questions from angry lawmakers looking to understand how these companies unwittingly helped Russian operatives interfere in the U.S. election. The constellation of content created by the Kremlin groups is surreal and varied, focusing on some of the most polarizing issues in U.S. politics, like racial justice, bigotry against Muslims, police brutality, immigration, and gun control. The sophisticated strategy shows that the Russian propaganda machine’s aims went well beyond securing Trump’s presidency.

Facebook gave Congress information on 470 pages that it said reached roughly 126 million people, but there could have been even more. Jonathan Albright, the director of research at Columbia’s Tow Center for Journalism, found that six of those pages alone had posts that may have been shared more than 340 million times. Though the national conversation has focused more on Russians’ efforts to stir up the right wing ahead of the election, they also attempted to infiltrate and manipulate U.S. racial justice activism and efforts to fight anti-Muslim bigotry.

screen_shot_20171103_at_8.15.50_am
Facebook / HouseIntelligence Committee

For instance, the page United Muslims of America, a puppet Russian account, ran an ad promoting Bernie Sanders that notes Donald Trump “lauded a plan to shoot Muslims with bullets covered in pig’s blood.” That ad was engaged with more than 100 times, and the United Muslims of America page itself had more than 324,000 likes. United Muslims of America also hosted a pro-Clinton event on July 9, 2016, billed to take place at “The Obama White House,” which it promoted with a Facebook ad targeted to people interested in the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egypt-based Islamic political organization that briefly occupied the country’s presidential palace for roughly a year following the 2011 revolution. The Muslim Brotherhood, however, has a poor track record of supporting women’s rights, having made a statement to the United Nations in 2012 that women should not have the right to press charges against their husbands for marital rape and that wives should be under the “guardianship” of their husbands. It’s not a stretch to imagine that many who indicated interest in the political party on Facebook might respond negatively to an ad supporting a female presidential candidate. As with the ad featuring the historic Black Panthers photo, this may be an attempt to anger people of color in the U.S., but this time the target was Arab Americans in the Washington, D.C., area. The Facebook page for the faux advocacy group is no longer online; Facebook took it down, along with all the other pages it located that were created by the Internet Research Agency.

Beyond what Facebook and Twitter shared with Congress, journalists have found other examples of explicit attempts from what appear to be Russian operatives to either undermine or exploit America’s ongoing movement for racial justice. One of the more creative efforts was a Pokémon Go scavenger hunt in Baltimore that urged people to catch Pokémon at sites where alleged incidents of police violence against black people had occurred. That event was organized by a fake Russian-led activist group called “Do Not Shoot Us,” which also circulated at least a dozen petitions calling for justice for acts of police violence. The petitions garnered thousands of signatures.

Congress also released a list of thousands of Twitter accounts that were linked to Russian operatives. With names like “staywoke88,” “BlackNewsOutlet,” “Muslimericans,” and “BLMSoldier,” they appear calculated to give a false sense of activist credibility behind whatever Kremlin propaganda they were tweeting.

One of the Russian Facebook groups, Black Matters, had a page for a protest in New York City the Saturday after the election, which it promoted with an ad. On the event page, more than 16,700 people signed up to attend, while 33,000 more listed themselves as interested. The Guardian at the time wrote that thousands of people actually showed up with protest signs in tow. Black Matters may not have been the only group advertising the event, but its page, it seems, did act as a hub for people planning to attend. Again, the event suggests that the Kremlin saw value in cultivating an activist network of Trump opponents just as much as it wanted to put Trump in the White House. Think about it. If Trump does something Putin doesn’t like, how convenient would it be for the Russian leader to spark a series of grassroots protests across the country to do his bidding?

[wv]

In general i think the info linked to russia is way more accurate and useful than the american-corporate-media stuff. When i compare the stuff I’ve read from RT and the stuff from usual suspects in the corporate media — I’ll take the RT stuff anyday.

Is it ‘divisive’ ? You bet. Is it targeted at oppressed groups? You bet.

Does it drive the powers that be up the wall ? Obviously. I’ve never seen anything like it. For the first time in my life, something is driving the powers-that-be crazy. I love it. Course its being shutdown.

w
v

[Billy_T]

wv wrote:

In general i think the info linked to russia is way more accurate and useful than the american-corporate-media stuff. When i compare the stuff I’ve read from RT and the stuff from usual suspects in the corporate media — I’ll take the RT stuff anyday.

Is it ‘divisive’ ? You bet. Is it targeted at oppressed groups? You bet.

Does it drive the powers that be up the wall ? Obviously. I’ve never seen anything like it. For the first time in my life, something is driving the powers-that-be crazy. I love it. Course its being shutdown.

w
v

In my view, there’s a huge difference between sober, reflective, analytical shows on RT and those ads. Actually, a huge difference. The former does actual critique of American life, oftentimes zeroing in on things our MSM never touches. The latter, however, are blatantly all about pitting Americans against one another, stoking hatred between groups, and that’s incredibly, obviously dangerous.

Also, when it comes to “trust,” right off the bat, if you’re faking who you are — as in, pretending (for example) to be a BLM group when you’re not — no one should believe anything else you’re saying. If your message is valid, there’s no need to set up a fake front out of a Russia bot farm to do it. Just be open about it and make your case.

Another key factor for me: RT doesn’t do critiques of Russian society in Russia, for Russians, and Russia, internally, is actually even more right-wing, hierarchical, plutocratic and anti-democratic than we are. As bad as we are, they’re actually a hell of a lot worse. The absence of Russian critique by RT is simply indefensible.

It’s a bit like, say, the CIA going into Russia, setting up TV shows there that are highly critical of its society, broadcasting that to Russians, while never once saying anything whatsoever about America. That’s pretty much the dynamic in play.

But the bottom line (for me) is to remember those Russian ads, twitter bots, social media bots and their fake-news generation was never, ever in service of making America a better place. It was to sow the seeds of division and chaos, and the way they do it is to pit the most vulnerable Americans against one another. I see that as absolutely despicable and unforgivable.

Go after the powers that be all you want. Go after Clinton, the DNC, the GOP, American corporations, capitalism, etc. But whipping up violent hatred between groups on behalf of Putin is disgusting.

[wv]

Billy_T wrote:

wv wrote:

In general i think the info linked to russia is way more accurate and useful than the american-corporate-media stuff. When i compare the stuff I’ve read from RT and the stuff from usual suspects in the corporate media — I’ll take the RT stuff anyday.

Is it ‘divisive’ ? You bet. Is it targeted at oppressed groups? You bet.

Does it drive the powers that be up the wall ? Obviously. I’ve never seen anything like it. For the first time in my life, something is driving the powers-that-be crazy. I love it. Course its being shutdown.

w
v

In my view, there’s a huge difference between sober, reflective, analytical shows on RT and those ads. Actually, a huge difference. The former does actual critique of American life, oftentimes zeroing in on things our MSM never touches. The latter, however, are blatantly all about pitting Americans against one another, stoking hatred between groups, and that’s incredibly, obviously dangerous.

Also, when it comes to “trust,” right off the bat, if you’re faking who you are — as in, pretending (for example) to be a BLM group when you’re not — no one should believe anything else you’re saying. If your message is valid, there’s no need to set up a fake front out of a Russia bot farm to do it. Just be open about it and make your case.

Another key factor for me: RT doesn’t do critiques of Russian society in Russia, for Russians, and Russia, internally, is actually even more right-wing, hierarchical, plutocratic and anti-democratic than we are. As bad as we are, they’re actually a hell of a lot worse. The absence of Russian critique by RT is simply indefensible.

It’s a bit like, say, the CIA going into Russia, setting up TV shows there that are highly critical of its society, broadcasting that to Russians, while never once saying anything whatsoever about America. That’s pretty much the dynamic in play.

But the bottom line (for me) is to remember those Russian ads, twitter bots, social media bots and their fake-news generation was never, ever in service of making America a better place. It was to sow the seeds of division and chaos, and the way they do it is to pit the most vulnerable Americans against one another. I see that as absolutely despicable and unforgivable.

Go after the powers that be all you want. Go after Clinton, the DNC, the GOP, American corporations, capitalism, etc. But whipping up violent hatred between groups on behalf of Putin is disgusting.

==============

Well first off I’ve not seen these ‘ads’. And i have to say, I dont trust Salon or facebook or google or twitter. I would need real EVIDENCE that these ads are
part of a Putin plot. So far all ive seen from the corporate-media is accusations.

I also dont care if RT critiques russia in russia. I would not surprise me in the least if they dont. That to me, is irrelevant. What is relevant to ME, is this: Do they help the AMERICAN public see more clearly? And my answer to that is yes. Definitely. Who the hell else is talking about Zinn and Chomsky ideas on the American corporate media scene? CNN? No. FOX? No. NPR? No. PBS? No. NYTimes? No. Wash Post? No. ABC? No. NBC? No. CBS? No. Talk Radio? No.

RT is it. I dont see any other mega-mainstream-media-organization doing a marxist, radical, leftist critique.

I think RT is a godsend.

I am truly baffled at the opposing views about RT on this board. No big deal, but it does baffle me. Ah well.

Btw, just for the sake of argument, what is the Corporate-capitalist argument against all this “russian propaganda” ? I mean how is it supposed to help Putin? By doing what, exactly?

w
v

[Billy_T]

Quick clarification, just to be safe: When I say “you” in the last paragraph, I’m referring to Russia, not anyone else. I thought that was obvious in context until I just reread it.

[Billy_T]

wv wrote:

Well first off I’ve not seen these ‘ads’. And i have to say, I dont trust Salon or facebook or google or twitter. I would need real EVIDENCE that these ads are
part of a Putin plot. So far all ive seen from the corporate-media is accusations.

I also dont care if RT critiques russia in russia. I would not surprise me in the least if they dont. That to me, is irrelevant. What is relevant to ME, is this: Do they help the AMERICAN public see more clearly? And my answer to that is yes. Definitely. Who the hell else is talking about Zinn and Chomsky ideas on the American corporate media scene? CNN? No. FOX? No. NPR? No. PBS? No. NYTimes? No. Wash Post? No. ABC? No. NBC? No. CBS? No. Talk Radio? No.

RT is it. I dont see any other mega-mainstream-media-organization doing a marxist, radical, leftist critique.

I think RT is a godsend.

I am truly baffled at the opposing views about RT on this board. No big deal, but it does baffle me. Ah well.

Btw, just for the sake of argument, what is the Corporate-capitalist argument against all this “russian propaganda” ? I mean how is it supposed to help Putin? By doing what, exactly?

w
v

WV,

You and I both think they do some good, much needed work on TV. And, obviously, leftists are left out of the American MSM (pretty much) entirely. It’s always a shock to see one appear, and when they do, every century or so, they’re usually mocked — even by “liberal” hosts. I saw that happen when Richard D. Wolff appeared on Chris Hayes’ old Saturday show. Wolff was just being truthful, logical, rational and obvious about our economic system, and Hayes and other panelists — supposedly left of center — all but openly ridiculed him.

Anyway . . .

Again, there’s a huge difference between those shows and those ads. That’s my point. And you really don’t have to “trust” the American MSM in this matter. You can find the ads yourself via all kinds of different venues — and search engines (I use duckduckgo, for example).

Americans who were targeted by them aren’t saying this didn’t happen. No one is really denying it.

Your post has me thinking about another issue, though: When you say RT shows help the American public see more clearly . . . . is that really true? We’ve become so polarized, so tribal, in our own silos . . . I’m wondering: Do non-leftists even tune in to RT? As in, isn’t it more “preaching to the choir” than actually converting anyone to a new view? And aren’t good books, essays, histories, etc. etc. . . . better than any RT TV show in the first place?

[zn]

Billy_T wrote:

Another key factor for me: RT doesn’t do critiques of Russian society in Russia, for Russians, and Russia, internally, is actually even more right-wing, hierarchical, plutocratic and anti-democratic than we are. As bad as we are, they’re actually a hell of a lot worse. The absence of Russian critique by RT is simply indefensible.

In all the swirling winds on this issue, that is one thing that firmly stands out for me.

And there is a critical and dynamic left critique available in the USA…you just can’t count on the mainstream knowing about it. But interested people know how to find it and we all rely on it. I would even call it The Leftist Public Sphere–based on the idea of “the public sphere,” which includes both sources of info and venues for discussion. It’s all there…we’re part of it. There is no equivalent in Russia. Russia does not have and does not allow a dissenting counter-mainstream public sphere.

…

[wv]

Billy_T wrote:

wv wrote:

Well first off I’ve not seen these ‘ads’. And i have to say, I dont trust Salon or facebook or google or twitter. I would need real EVIDENCE that these ads are
part of a Putin plot. So far all ive seen from the corporate-media is accusations.

I also dont care if RT critiques russia in russia. I would not surprise me in the least if they dont. That to me, is irrelevant. What is relevant to ME, is this: Do they help the AMERICAN public see more clearly? And my answer to that is yes. Definitely. Who the hell else is talking about Zinn and Chomsky ideas on the American corporate media scene? CNN? No. FOX? No. NPR? No. PBS? No. NYTimes? No. Wash Post? No. ABC? No. NBC? No. CBS? No. Talk Radio? No.

RT is it. I dont see any other mega-mainstream-media-organization doing a marxist, radical, leftist critique.

I think RT is a godsend.

I am truly baffled at the opposing views about RT on this board. No big deal, but it does baffle me. Ah well.

Btw, just for the sake of argument, what is the Corporate-capitalist argument against all this “russian propaganda” ? I mean how is it supposed to help Putin? By doing what, exactly?

w
v

WV,

You and I both think they do some good, much needed work on TV. And, obviously, leftists are left out of the American MSM (pretty much) entirely. It’s always a shock to see one appear, and when they do, every century or so, they’re usually mocked — even by “liberal” hosts. I saw that happen when Richard D. Wolff appeared on Chris Hayes’ old Saturday show. Wolff was just being truthful, logical, rational and obvious about our economic system, and Hayes and other panelists — supposedly left of center — all but openly ridiculed him.

Anyway . . .

Again, there’s a huge difference between those shows and those ads. That’s my point. And you really don’t have to “trust” the American MSM in this matter. You can find the ads yourself via all kinds of different venues — and search engines (I use duckduckgo, for example).

Americans who were targeted by them aren’t saying this didn’t happen. No one is really denying it.

Your post has me thinking about another issue, though: When you say RT shows help the American public see more clearly . . . . is that really true? We’ve become so polarized, so tribal, in our own silos . . . I’m wondering: Do non-leftists even tune in to RT? As in, isn’t it more “preaching to the choir” than actually converting anyone to a new view? And aren’t good books, essays, histories, etc. etc. . . . better than any RT TV show in the first place?

============

Well, I glanced at some of the ads, and they really didnt elicit any processing in my brain. I just kinda shrugged. But my point wasn’t that the ads didnt appear, my point was i havent seen proof or evidence that they were planted by Putin or the Russian government. I read an article the other day about how google/twitter/facebook arrived at their conclusion that something was russian, and their criteria was extremely weak.

But i just dont care about any of that. I really dont. Thats just me.

And the reason i dont care is because of how i view the American system now. I view it as a toxic, empire-stew of lies upon lies upon lies upon lies. From ‘public education’ to Advertising to Public Relations, to CIA-lies, NSA-lies, FBI-lies, ‘National-security’ lies, Defense Contractor lies, DNC-lies, Republican-lies, Economic-Lies…. I believe the biosphere (all life) is in danger by this Corporate-Empire-of-Lies.

So thats the context for me. This soul-less corporate-empire-of-lies is now all aflutter because RT is telling Americans that neoliberalism is destroying the biosphere and causing untold suffering — and I’m supposed to be upset about RT? Because its linked to Putin?

I watch RT everyday. Its the single best political website i know of on the internet.

Just my opinion 🙂

And yes, i know they dont dare critique Russia. Thats a separate subject to me.

As for your question about whether anyone actually listens to RT or absorbs their critiques….well….thats another separate subject. I am not optimistic that RT or ANY group is getting through to Americans. I think the Corporate-Empire has damaged most Americans too much now for anything to get through. But i dont wanna go there 🙂

I’m a curmudgeon now, BT. A Vonnegut-curmudgeon.

Carry on,
Go Rams
w
v

[Maddy]

dumb question: what is RT?

[zn]

Maddy wrote:

dumb question: what is RT?

Formerly Russia Today. Now RT America.

RT America is a Russian government sponsored news channel that broadcasts american critiques of american policy in america.

Here’s the wiki on it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_(TV_network)

[Billy_T]

wv wrote:

Well, I glanced at some of the ads, and they really didnt elicit any processing in my brain. I just kinda shrugged. But my point wasn’t that the ads didnt appear, my point was i havent seen proof or evidence that they were planted by Putin or the Russian government. I read an article the other day about how google/twitter/facebook arrived at their conclusion that something was russian, and their criteria was extremely weak.

But i just dont care about any of that. I really dont. Thats just me.

And the reason i dont care is because of how i view the American system now. I view it as a toxic, empire-stew of lies upon lies upon lies upon lies. From ‘public education’ to Advertising to Public Relations, to CIA-lies, NSA-lies, FBI-lies, ‘National-security’ lies, Defense Contractor lies, DNC-lies, Republican-lies, Economic-Lies…. I believe the biosphere (all life) is in danger by this Corporate-Empire-of-Lies.

So thats the context for me. This soul-less corporate-empire-of-lies is now all aflutter because RT is telling Americans that neoliberalism is destroying the biosphere and causing untold suffering — and I’m supposed to be upset about RT? Because its linked to Putin?

I watch RT everyday. Its the single best political website i know of on the internet.

Just my opinion 🙂

And yes, i know they dont dare critique Russia. Thats a separate subject to me.

As for your question about whether anyone actually listens to RT or absorbs their critiques….well….thats another separate subject. I am not optimistic that RT or ANY group is getting through to Americans. I think the Corporate-Empire has damaged most Americans too much now for anything to get through. But i dont wanna go there 🙂

I’m a curmudgeon now, BT. A Vonnegut-curmudgeon.

Carry on,
Go Rams
w
v

Being a curmudgeon is a good thing in my book. And being a Vonnegut-curmudgeon’s right up there at the top of the heap. I think being one is the main reason I’ve survived cancer for 15 years — or longer, since they don’t really know when it started. It’s kinda ironic that more than a few old curmudgeons, who railed against life, society, the way things are, like Thomas Hardy, Samuel Beckett and E.M. Cioran lived into their 80s.

That said . . . I think I get why you’re attached to RT, and it’s really not the issue here, IMO. It’s more a symptom. But if they’re focusing solely on the evils of “neoliberalism,” as opposed to the capitalist system itself, I think they’re doing folks a disservice. I like sites like Jacobin much more because they’re anticapitalist, and in my view, that’s the real issue.

“Neoliberalism” is the current management regime. It’s just another in a long line of management regimes, and in my view, the thing that’s killing the biosphere is the system it’s managing, capitalism. It’s never NOT destroyed the environment, regardless of regime. And the main reason for that? Any economic system set up for personal enrichment, as opposed to the public good, is going to do that. Any economic system that places the personal accrual of wealth at the core, the center of its reason for being is going to do that. It will always have irreconcilable differences and conflicts between ownership and workers, ownership and consumers, ownership and society, and especially, ownership and the planet.

All the rest is just a matter of tweaking at the edges.

[Billy_T]

At the most basic level, capitalism forces countless either/ors throughout the production, sale and compensation process. Either ownership gets X amount of money, or workers do. Either ownership gets X amount of money, or the supply chain does. Either ownership gets X amount of money, or consumers pay more or get less, etc. The math guarantees winners and losers, and because ownership has all the legal power at its disposal, and can legally call all the shots, it’s going to win the vast majority of the time.

Capitalists make their money by NOT paying for work done. If they pay it to workers, they don’t have it in their own pockets. If they pay it to make safer workplaces, they don’t have it in their own pockets. If they pay it to ensure safer products, they don’t have it in their own pockets, and so on. This obviously extends to the destruction of the environment, which is why pretty much every company in the beginning stages of capitalism located next to a river — for easy dumping. This is why pretty much every factory farm still does.

In my view, “neoliberalism,” while much worse than the Keynesian management regime, is still better than what came before Keynes. Keynes was the aberration, and even under it we had mass pollution and economic inequality — especially for minorities, women and the “third world”. Worse before Keynesianism, and today’s mixed bag in comparison is worse, but capitalism has always, throughout its entire history, created mass famine, pollution, wars to slam open markets, wars to protect the shipping lanes, coups, counter-coups and mass destruction of the biosphere.

It’s never had a “green phase,” though there are tiny blips of that here and there when companies eschew the capitalist model within the worldwide capitalist system. It won’t have them, either, regardless of management regime.

Why? Because capitalism itself demands a return on investment now. It demands personal enrichment now. You don’t get that if you leave natural resources in the ground, or act as a wise, beneficent steward of the earth. There’s no profit in that.

[Billy_T]

An analogy.

You have this national sport called Mayhem. You’ve had it for more than a century. Two contestants score points by maiming individual parts of their opponent’s body. The most points win the match.

Throughout history, you’ve had various activists pushing for various regulatory regimes . . . trying to reduce the carnage, increase it, make the game more wide open, or a bit less horrific. The most popular way of doing this is to increase or decrease the number of points scored for each maimed area of the body. Five points, ten points, one hundred points for broken bones — higher still if they can’t be mended, etc.

Almost no one talks about the game itself. The actual game. Almost no one talks about maybe, perhaps, finding a different national sport. Instead, they talk about ways of “managing” the pain levels or ending the PC whining about that pain to one degree or another.

One very small group says, “Um, hmm. Let’s try a sport that doesn’t start out with the premise of inflicting the most bodily harm possible, whatever the relative rewards may be. How about that for a change?”

[wv]

Billy_T wrote:

<

Well, i think you know i basically agree about capitalism in general, and i like Jacobin too, i just dont read it very often. Is it a pay-per-view site? I know I’ve read some essays but maybe some of the site is pay-per-view, i dont remember.

Also, keep in mind the audience RT is aiming at — its a general joe and jane American audience. As well as young people, minorities and poor folks.
Jacobin is aimed at an audience more steeped in political and academic verbiage. Etc.

I dont see any way out of this ‘situation,’ BT. Things have always changed in the past, but in the past the Environment was not bleeding this bad, and the technologies-of-control-and-destruction were nowhere near this powerful.
Blah, blah blah. Go rams 🙂

w
v
“…Talk of democracy has little content when big business rules the life of the country through its control of the means of production, exchange, the press and other means of publicity, propaganda and communication.” John Dewey

[wv]

More dangerous “russian propaganda.” (try finding something like this in the mainstream corporate ‘non propaganda’ sphere )

[Author]

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