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Twitter Suspends Hundreds of Accounts Linked To Russian Operatives (usatoday.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from USA Today: Twitter says it found some 200 accounts linked to the same Russian groups that bought $100,000 worth of ads on Facebook to sow political unrest and manipulate U.S. voters during the presidential election. The Twitter accounts, which were taken down over the last month, were linked to 470 accounts and pages that Facebook traced to the International Research Agency, a Russian troll farm. According to a blog post released by Twitter Thursday after briefing staffers on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, the groups on Facebook had 22 Twitter accounts. Twitter found an additional 179 accounts connected to those 22. Twitter also shared information on Russian news outlet Russia Today, or RT, which has ties to the Kremlin, according to U.S. intelligence agencies.
Yes, if they are meant to influence an election.
Don't ask me. Ask Congress (who passed the law) and Richard Nixon (who signed the law) and the Supreme Court (who upheld the law's provisions regarding foreign influence in elections).
You are welcome on my lawn.
If you are a foreign national you cannot legally contribute to a candidate for federal office.
I'm rather curious about this as well. I haven't been following this thing very closely, so in short: What did they do that was illegal
If they paid money for ads in support of or against a particular political candidate, they were in violation of Title 52 United States Code Sec. 30121. The constitutionality of this statute was challenged on First Amendment grounds, but the U.S. Supreme Court, in refusing to hear an appeal, let stand a ruling by a federal court of appeals that found the statute to be enforceable.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
The DNC literally rigged a national primary election to get the result they wanted.
1. It's their party. A political party is not part of the government, but is rather a private institution. They can run any candidate they like.
2. I love how you guys keep saying that it was perfectly acceptable for *Trump* to subvert the *GOP* nomination process beyond any shred of creditability while at the same time lambasting the Dems for failing to select a candidate who plainly did not and never was going to have enough votes to secure the nomination, much less the election.
As for the ads, they were the false-flag ops you nutters should have been worried about--the ones used to spread lies much the same as those lies you're spouting now.
Coincidence? You think so, really?
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Yes, if they are meant to influence an election
Not as simple an answer as that. Under 52 US Code 30121 - Contributions and donations by foreign nationals the law states:
(a) Prohibition
It shall be unlawful for—
(1) a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make—
(A) a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local election;
(B) a contribution or donation to a committee of a political party; or
(C) an expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication (within the meaning of section 30104(f)(3) of this title); or
The section that applies to taking out an ad would be (a)(1)(C) - electioneering communication. Note it says within the meaning section 30104(f)(3) which is a subsection defining Electioneering Communications. The parent is (f) Disclosure of electioneering communications says
(f) Disclosure of electioneering communications
(1) Statement required
Every person who makes a disbursement for the direct costs of producing and airing electioneering communications in an aggregate amount in excess of $10,000 during any calendar year shall, within 24 hours of each disclosure date, file with the Commission a statement containing the information described in paragraph (2).
So an individual taking out ads that total less than $10,000 may actually not be in violation of the US code, however the purported $100,000 definitely falls into that category and is prohibited.
Meanwhile Glenn Greenwald posted an article which explains why BeauHD falls in the category of useful idiots.
https://theintercept.com/2017/...