DailyBeast: Russians Used Reddit and Tumblr to Troll the 2016 Election [View all]

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/russians-used-reddit-and-tumblr-to-troll-the-2016-election/

Russians Used Reddit and Tumblr to Troll the 2016 Election
The internet giants are staying mum after a leak from the Kremlin-backed troll farm confirmed that they were key nodes in the Russian disinformation campaign.

03.01.18

A leak of internal data from the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency discovered by The Daily Beast serves as the first confirmation that the Russian troll farm deployed its online agitators on Reddit as part of its campaign to interfere in American politics.

The leak also reveals 21 Tumblr accounts, including login credentials, run by the Internet Research Agency (IRA). The listing for the leak offers “American proxies” for Reddit and viral meme site 9Gag. The leak comes after months of speculation from Reddit users that the site had been targeted by a foreign influence campaign.

Content from IRA-backed websites like BlackMattersUs.com received hundreds—and sometimes thousands—upvotes on subreddits like r/The_Donald and r/HillaryForPrison in the run-up to the 2016 election. Trolls purporting to represent the troll farm promised an Ask Me Anything session in October, but the Q-and-A never occurred.

When The Daily Beast reached out to Reddit for comment, a public relations representative requested screenshots and details of the leak, which The Daily Beast provided. The spokesperson told The Daily Beast the company would be in touch if it had any further comment.

Reddit then ignored repeated further requests for comment.

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