Wednesday, September 13, 2017

The Russians used Facebook to organize anti-immigration protests to stir up Trump supporters during campaign.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Russian operatives hiding behind false identities used Facebook’s event-management tool to remotely organize and promote political protests in the U.S., including an August 2016 anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rally in Idaho, The Daily Beast has learned. 

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Beast that the social-media giant “shut down several promoted events as part of the takedown we described last week.” The company declined to elaborate, except to confirm that the events were promoted with paid ads. (This is the first time the social-media giant has publicly acknowledged the existence of such events.) 

The Facebook events—one of which echoed Islamophobic conspiracy theories pushed by pro-Trump media outlets—are the first indication that the Kremlin’s attempts to shape America’s political discourse moved beyond fake news and led unwitting Americans into specific real-life action. 

“This is the next step,” Clint Watts, a former FBI agent and expert on Russia’s influence campaign, told The Daily Beast. “The objective of influence is to create behavior change. The simplest behavior is to have someone disseminate propaganda that Russia created and seeded. The second part of behavior influence is when you can get people to physically do something.”

I swear the more we learn about how hard the Russians worked to help get Trump elected the more we have to wonder just what was promised to them for their efforts.

The lifting of sanctions, open access to the White House, a green light for more oil exploration in the Arctic?

All of that seems reasonable, but I cannot help but think that there was even more to it than that.

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:22 AM

    I am truly grateful that I rarely ever log into my FB account. It's apparent to ME, that whatever "side" you are on, at the very least, posts on FB can make you feel like shit, and the worse, plant and then reinforce ideas used to manipulate the masses. From shopping to politics to Russian trolls manipulating us, we have become a bunch of sheeple.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7:23 AM

    Gee, the Russians went to great lengths to give Trump and the GOP the presidency. I wonder when the rest of us will have to pay the price. It won't be pretty.
    Beaglemom

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous7:49 AM

    OH CHEET!

    All the presidents needs to be vocal against our incompetent Russian president.

    Also, if Trump heeds President Carter's advice regarding North Korea, Trump will take credit for peace between America and North Korea. Trump should send President Carter to North Korea to end something Trump can't.


    CBS NEWS
    Politics

    Jimmy Carter to Trump: "Keep the peace, tell the truth

    Former President Jimmy Carter offered a damning indictment of U.S. foreign policy and domestic affairs Tuesday, saying money in politics makes the nation more like an "oligarchy than a democracy" and casting President Donald Trump as a disappointment on the world stage.

    Read more at
    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jimmy-carter-to-trump-keep-the-peace-tell-the-truth/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous7:54 AM

    Why doesn't Trump apologize to President Obama for his Birthgate lies and Wiretapgate lies?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7:57 AM

    "a real estate conglomerate" $EXxx, BULLYing, MonEy!
    " You remember Mark Burnett. He’s the producer who made the Sarah Palin’s Alaska, and who confirmed that he contacted Palin about making a film about her, before she resigned as Governor."The Apprentice producer Mark Burnett is one of the missing links connecting Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Sarah Palin. If you thought Trump was fond of Palin because of her tableshirts …think again.""Thus it appears there is an almost incestuous relationship between Trump, Palin, Burnett, and Slater."
    "What neither Trump nor Garten said was that—at that very moment—Trump was in the middle of the deal to build a Trump Tower in the Russian capital and that Sater had put together the venture. As he was running for president, Trump was hiding this project from the American public, and he was insisting he barely knew the man at the center of it. This was $eriou$ deceit."

    https://malialitman.com/2017/09/13/the-incestuous-relationship-between-mark-burnett-felix-sater-vladimir-putin-donald-trump-and-sarah-palin/

    "Jan 24, 2016 - Trump: I could 'shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters' ..... "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't
    LOSE ANY votes."{BET>HE already HAS}

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous8:42 AM

    Facebook Tightens Rules On Who Can Cash In On Ads

    The social network is responding to criticism that it is too simple for providers of fake news and sensational headlines to cash in.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/facebook-clamps-down-ads-cash-in_us_59b95c63e4b086432b039454?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous8:44 AM

    It’s Official: Donald Trump Is The Most Anti-LGBTQ President In U.S. History

    Measured by both actions and outcomes, it’s a fact that is now undeniable.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/its-official-donald-trump-is-the-most-anti-lgbtq-president-in-us-history_us_59b7ea66e4b09be4165832ce?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous8:47 AM

    Trump is everything the founding fathers feared in a president

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/trump-is-everything-the-founding-fathers-feared-in-a-president/

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous9:26 AM

    OT?
    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/watch-ex-daily-show-correspondent-dupes-trump-supporters-into-joining-impeach-hillary-drive/

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous10:04 AM

    FYI-""My entire family went to the wedding. I usually don’t tell my kids to what events they should go, but this time I told them attendance was mandatory. Beforehand, I told my kids: 'We're going to make him happy because he's my sister's son and I want him to be happy, but I want you to know that according to the Torah this [wedding] is forbidden and an abomination. I have no leeway on this.”

    After he attended the wedding, five rabbis affiliated with the Shas party wrote a public letter that demanded Guetta to be removed from his position. Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri welcomed his resignation and expressed gratitude that he made the move."

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/israeli-lawmaker-forced-to-resign-for-attending-gay-nephews-wedding/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous5:34 PM

    Former Trump Official:
    'Facebook Won The Election For Us'

    ReplyDelete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.