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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.
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 or against the ToS? Am I, as a Danish citizen living in Germany, gonna get banned from Twitter if I post, with no context, that I think you should vote against Trump in 2020?
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
My favorite Russian Facebook accounts are the ones promoting the secession of Texas. Seriously, they're hysterically funny.
https://extranewsfeed.com/how-...
They even paid for a pro-secession delegation from Texas to go to Russia, where they could learn about true political freedom.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Formerly, winning the hearts and minds of the populace at election time was the prerogative of the wealthy and influential, as powerful media barons and political machines dominated the landscape.
What we could be witnessing is the democratization of propaganda.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Okay. Am I prohibited from purchasing ads from US media companies? If so, why?
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
The provision regarding foreign interference in elections was upheld by SCOTUS in 2012. See Bluman, et al., v. Federal Election Commission.
https://thecaucus.blogs.nytime...
You are welcome on my lawn.
Unfortunately, as dollars have been ripped away from historical news organizations where educated professionals vetted sources, researched stories and were held accountable; we now throw billions at the immediate gratification "like" without a clue to what's true and false - only what "feels good". Critical reasoning is for the most part a thing of the past...wait, who predicted this?
oh, ya... this was written in 1995 - 32 years ago:
“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...
The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”
---Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Many of them misrepresented their identity in order to deceive.
For excite, "AntiFa Boston" accidentally posted location data on a tweet recently (Moscow, Russia). The account is a troll stoking up division by pretending to be someone they are not, which is against the ToS.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
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.
...do that to all the ISIS ones.
No it's illegal to influence elections
I've had trump loving friends reshare all kinds of weird Facebook pages that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere with stupid names like American Patriot Mom.
Depending on what you actually mean by "influencing elections" this is way too broad to be technically true. It is NOT illegal for them to do exercise influence (you couldn't enforce such a law anyway). Russia could start a conflict or propose a treaty that favored one candidate or another if they wish, the USA could make that illegal but there is no way to enforce that law, so it's worthless.
What IS illegal is for foreign entities to directly support a candidate, campaign or party or more to the point for candidates, campaigns and parties may not knowingly accept money or services from foreign sources. (I believe that PAC's and SUPER PAC's also have similar restrictions). The election laws prevent foreign funding of parties, campaigns or candidates but they cannot (and do not) prevent foreign influence in our elections.
So let's be precise here.....
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
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 Americans only think it's bad if foreigners influence American elections. Those in charge especially feel it's perfectly okay to go around and influence elections in other countries. God forbid if someone does to them what they routinely do to others.
Contributing to a campaign is not the same as expressing an opinion or taking out ads on how a US citizen should vote. Indeed it is hard to see how you can prevent the latter given freedom of speech since ads are really nothing more than a megaphone: they allow your opinion to travel further and reach more people.
It might be unwelcome involvement but then so was Obama's intervention in the Brexit referendum (which backfired spectacularly, unfortunately) so you can hardly blame other countries for the same behaviour as your former president.
If you are defending Russian inteligence operations agains tthe US, you are a fucking traitor. I don't give a shit how republican you are, or how conservative you are or how much you love fucking your woman with American Flag comdoms, you are a god damn traitor who should be shot.
Classic, what is your wish young sir a dingbat pin or a bozo button ?
Oh my God, Russians living in Russia have broken US laws. Behead them. Oh, wait, they are Russians living in Russia.
You don't think the U.S. should investigate crimes against the U.S. just because they were committed abroad? It doesn't mean they'll ask for extradition or even lay charges, but if U.S. laws are broken, the justice department has an obligation to investigate. That's their job.
And then, what do we do with all the foreign press that carried articles and other material either beneficial or detrimental to specific candidates? Do we behead the newspaper editors and publishers for violating US law?
Don't know why you keep going on about beheading. The penalty is a fine. And there is an exception in this law for journalism.
It doesn't matter if Trump's campaign was involved or not.
Of course it matters if the Trump campaign was involved or not. Here: "11 CFR 110.20(g) Solicitation, acceptance, or receipt of contributions and donations from foreign nationals...
Yes, of course. What I meant was it doesn't matter for the purposes of deciding Russian culpability. Of course, if Trump or his campaign was involved it matters as far as his culpability goes. Sorry if I wasn't clear.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
How did Facebook determine that the accounts were associated with the International Research Agency? IP addresses? I can't believe the Russians didn't use tor or some form of VPN to disguise their location. And 179+22 accounts doesn't sound like a lot. I would have expected tens of thousands of accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Reddit.
Could Facebook visibly flag posts coming from a VPN or tor exit node or known troll farm?
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
The Russians did nothing different from what Obama did with getting involved in the Brexit referendum.
So you're accusing Obama of spending money (presumably in the UK) to influence the Brexit referendum? Because that's what we're talking about. Not just giving an opinion, but spending money to influence opinion.
Don't you think it is dangerous for US democracy when foreign powers buy influence in it?
The Russians did nothing different from what Obama did with getting involved in the Brexit referendum.
ORLY?
So Obama secretively bought a bunch of ads to try to influence the referendum?
Brexiteers made direct claims about the US, and the US via Obama responded directly through public channels. That is more or less exactly not what happened with Russia in the presidetial election.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
The biggest troll account is @realdonaldtrump. Long overdue to shut that one down!
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.