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Here's what fake Russian Facebook posts during the election looked like
In May 2016, a small group of protesters with a “#WhiteLivesMatter” sign adorned with confederate flags showed up at a rally outside an Islamic center in Houston promoted by a Facebook page called “Heart of Texas.”
It was fake news.
Billed as a rally to “Stop Islamization of Texas,” the gathering and the Facebook page that promoted it were really an attempt by Russia to interfere with the 2016 election by sowing discord among voters, in this case by attempting to push propaganda on Americans susceptible to anti-Muslim messages. The posts weren’t created in Texas — they were manufactured by a “troll factory” called the Internet Research Agency, in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Casey Michel, a journalist who for years has tracked Russia’s efforts to influence Americans, was the first to link the “Heart of Texas” page to Moscow. It took Facebook months to remove the page, which had more than 249,000 followers when it was shut down last month, and a spokesman said it was “likely operated out of Russia.” Now CNN has confirmed that the page was one of 470 Facebook accounts and pages turned over to Congress as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Facebook says ads purchased by these fake accounts were viewed by 10 million people.
Posts retrieved from the “Heart of Texas” page offer some insight into how Moscow used social media in an attempt to interfere with our elections, and how it appears that the Kremlin was acting to promote then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his campaign’s views, while attempting to undermine his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Some posts feature largely uncontroversial pro-Texas images that appear designed simply to maximize the number of likes and shares the page would receive. Many posts, reflecting their Russian origin, featured broken English or memes that made little sense.
A large number of the posts on “Heart of Texas” went after Clinton directly, like this one with a manipulated image showing her shaking hands with 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden and referring to her as a “lying murderer and criminal.”
The rest:
https://www.philly.com/philly/news/facebook-russia-fake-posts-trump-election-clinton-20171006.html
__________________________________________________________________________
Here's what fake Russian Facebook posts during the election looked like
In May 2016, a small group of protesters with a “#WhiteLivesMatter” sign adorned with confederate flags showed up at a rally outside an Islamic center in Houston promoted by a Facebook page called “Heart of Texas.”
It was fake news.
Billed as a rally to “Stop Islamization of Texas,” the gathering and the Facebook page that promoted it were really an attempt by Russia to interfere with the 2016 election by sowing discord among voters, in this case by attempting to push propaganda on Americans susceptible to anti-Muslim messages. The posts weren’t created in Texas — they were manufactured by a “troll factory” called the Internet Research Agency, in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Casey Michel, a journalist who for years has tracked Russia’s efforts to influence Americans, was the first to link the “Heart of Texas” page to Moscow. It took Facebook months to remove the page, which had more than 249,000 followers when it was shut down last month, and a spokesman said it was “likely operated out of Russia.” Now CNN has confirmed that the page was one of 470 Facebook accounts and pages turned over to Congress as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Facebook says ads purchased by these fake accounts were viewed by 10 million people.
Posts retrieved from the “Heart of Texas” page offer some insight into how Moscow used social media in an attempt to interfere with our elections, and how it appears that the Kremlin was acting to promote then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his campaign’s views, while attempting to undermine his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Some posts feature largely uncontroversial pro-Texas images that appear designed simply to maximize the number of likes and shares the page would receive. Many posts, reflecting their Russian origin, featured broken English or memes that made little sense.
A large number of the posts on “Heart of Texas” went after Clinton directly, like this one with a manipulated image showing her shaking hands with 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden and referring to her as a “lying murderer and criminal.”
The rest:
https://www.philly.com/philly/news/facebook-russia-fake-posts-trump-election-clinton-20171006.html