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WaPo: Instagram is the new frontier of Russian disinformation, but Putin can still reach Trump
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2019/10/22/daily-202-instagram-is-the-new-frontier-of-russian-disinformation-efforts-but-putin-can-still-reach-trump-directly/5dae7d0588e0fa5ad928d9b4/?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1
By James Hohmann
National political correspondent and author of The Daily 202
October 22 at 10:35 AM
THE BIG IDEA: The Russians keep coming.
Facebook announced Monday afternoon that it took down a network of Russian-backed accounts that were posing as American voters in swing states. The social media company said the operation appeared well-resourced, reflected a sophisticated understanding of the culture wars that divide Americans, and bore all the hallmarks of the Internet Research Agency, the Kremlin-backed troll farm that interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
Fifty fake accounts were removed from Instagram, the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook. Only one of the accounts that was taken down was a traditional Facebook page. This reflects how America’s adversaries continue to be aggressive and entrepreneurial, evolving to maximize their impact.
Graphika, a social media analysis firm that examined the operation for Facebook, published a 30-page report about the fake pages, which were still in audience-building mode: “Multiple accounts praised Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump. Accounts from both sides of the political spectrum attacked Joe Biden; some also attacked Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.”
“The reason that networks of phony accounts are drawn to Instagram is because disinformation is increasingly visual in nature, and that’s what Instagram specializes in,” said Paul Barrett, deputy director of New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights.
“The disclosure from Facebook served as more evidence of what Trump has repeatedly questioned — that Russian actors not only interfered in the 2016 election but are continuing their efforts to interfere in American democracy,” Tony Romm and Isaac Stanley-Becker report. “The task of safeguarding U.S. elections from interference by Russia and other foreign actors has been a source of tension in the Trump administration, with the president repeatedly calling the allegations of Russian involvement in 2016 a ‘hoax’ and top security officials being forced to tiptoe around the issue.”
</snip>
By James Hohmann
National political correspondent and author of The Daily 202
October 22 at 10:35 AM
THE BIG IDEA: The Russians keep coming.
Facebook announced Monday afternoon that it took down a network of Russian-backed accounts that were posing as American voters in swing states. The social media company said the operation appeared well-resourced, reflected a sophisticated understanding of the culture wars that divide Americans, and bore all the hallmarks of the Internet Research Agency, the Kremlin-backed troll farm that interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
Fifty fake accounts were removed from Instagram, the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook. Only one of the accounts that was taken down was a traditional Facebook page. This reflects how America’s adversaries continue to be aggressive and entrepreneurial, evolving to maximize their impact.
Graphika, a social media analysis firm that examined the operation for Facebook, published a 30-page report about the fake pages, which were still in audience-building mode: “Multiple accounts praised Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump. Accounts from both sides of the political spectrum attacked Joe Biden; some also attacked Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.”
“The reason that networks of phony accounts are drawn to Instagram is because disinformation is increasingly visual in nature, and that’s what Instagram specializes in,” said Paul Barrett, deputy director of New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights.
“The disclosure from Facebook served as more evidence of what Trump has repeatedly questioned — that Russian actors not only interfered in the 2016 election but are continuing their efforts to interfere in American democracy,” Tony Romm and Isaac Stanley-Becker report. “The task of safeguarding U.S. elections from interference by Russia and other foreign actors has been a source of tension in the Trump administration, with the president repeatedly calling the allegations of Russian involvement in 2016 a ‘hoax’ and top security officials being forced to tiptoe around the issue.”
</snip>
