Pro-Gun Russian Bots Flood Twitter After Parkland Shooting

[tinrobot]

Each new breaking news situation is an opportunity for trolls to grab attention, provoke emotions, and spread propaganda. The Russian government knows this. Fake-news manufacturing teenagers in Macedonia know this. Twitter bot creators know this. And thanks to data-gathering operations from groups like the Alliance for Securing Democracy and RoBhat Labs, the world knows this.

In the wake of Wednesday’s Parkland, Florida school shooting, which resulted in 17 deaths, troll and bot-tracking sites reported an immediate uptick in related tweets from political propaganda bots and Russia-linked Twitter accounts. Hamilton 68, a website created by Alliance for Securing Democracy, tracks Twitter activity from accounts it has identified as linked to Russian influence campaigns. As of morning, shooting-related terms dominated the site’s trending hashtags and topics, including Parkland, guncontrolnow, Florida, guncontrol, and Nikolas Cruz, the name of the alleged shooter. Popular trending topics among the bot network include shooter, NRA, shooting, Nikolas, Florida, and teacher.

https://www.wired.com/story/pro-gun-russian-bots-flood-twitter-after-parkland-shooting/

[BigmanPigman]

1. Of course they did!

The NRA, Russia and the Religious Right have been dumping tons of $$$$ into the GOP bank accounts. Good articles on this a few weeks ago.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/the-nra-is-part-of-the-trumprussia-scandal-now.html