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Facebook Reopens Probe Into Russian Involvement in Brexit (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes TechCrunch:
Facebook has said it will conduct a wider investigation into whether there was Russian meddling on its platform relating to the 2016 Brexit referendum vote in the UK. Wednesday its UK policy director Simon Milner wrote to a parliamentary committee that's been conducting a wide-ranging enquiry into fake news -- and whose chair has been witheringly critical of Facebook and Twitter for failing to co-operate with requests for information and assistance on the topic of Brexit and Russia -- saying it will widen its investigation, per the committee's request. Though he gave no firm deadline for delivering a fresh report -- beyond estimating "a number of weeks".
It's not clear whether Twitter will also bow to pressure to conduct a more thorough investigation of Brexit-related disinformation. At the time of writing the company had not responded to our questions either. At the end of last year committee chair Damian Collins warned both companies they could face sanctions for failing to co-operate with the committee's enquiry -- slamming Twitter's investigations to date as "completely inadequate", and expressing disbelief that both companies had essentially ignored the committee's requests... Independent academic studies have suggested there was in fact significant tweet-based activity generated around Brexit by Russian bots."
Theresa May has said Russia's attempts to "sow discord" in the West could not go unchallenged, and warned Vladimir Putin, "We know what you are up to."
Facebook's response complained that a new investigation "requires detailed analysis of historic data by our security experts, who are also engaged in preventing live threats to our service."
It's not clear whether Twitter will also bow to pressure to conduct a more thorough investigation of Brexit-related disinformation. At the time of writing the company had not responded to our questions either. At the end of last year committee chair Damian Collins warned both companies they could face sanctions for failing to co-operate with the committee's enquiry -- slamming Twitter's investigations to date as "completely inadequate", and expressing disbelief that both companies had essentially ignored the committee's requests... Independent academic studies have suggested there was in fact significant tweet-based activity generated around Brexit by Russian bots."
Theresa May has said Russia's attempts to "sow discord" in the West could not go unchallenged, and warned Vladimir Putin, "We know what you are up to."
Facebook's response complained that a new investigation "requires detailed analysis of historic data by our security experts, who are also engaged in preventing live threats to our service."
Trump won, get over it.
The Daily Mail
The leftists are losing their bloody minds, you can't blame all your losses on Russia. Sour grapes mate. Enough with this, face it the other side won. Fucking elitist doss cunts, you're in such denial that you lost, that it couldn't POSSIBLY have happened without shady intervention. You lot are off your medication.
Yes! The Russians put nanobots into our brains and make us do their bidding!
Damn I don't know if we will survive 40 more years! Somebody please! Turn off the internet!
I wonder if Russia is behind Facebook's reopening of this probe into Russian meddling in Brexit. If you're Russia it seems like the best way to stir up shit in opposing powers is to let them tear themselves in half over whether or not Russia was involved in influencing their government in some way.
I see a lot of anonymous coward postings taking a "nothing to see here.. move along" stance... So sorry that Facebook looking into and possibly exposing something ruffles your delicate feathers so much...
"The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War's been over for 20 years" - Barack Obama, third presidential debate, Oct. 22, 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
When the Russians actually fund Communist and Green parties and generally support left-wing agitation, there's nothing to see here. But when people vote right-of-center, it must be a Russian conspiracy!
Blame everything on russians. Ignore your own crooked crimes.
Duh!
Cockholsters, they are at FUCKFACE.
If Theresa May knows what Putin is up to, why does she do exactly what he wants? She should just pretend he's a good friend, would be less embarrassing.
Ad hominem. Ad hominem. Ad hominem. Ad hominem.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Go figure. The reality is we have *ALWAYS* had influences during elections from many different perspectives. That's called democracy. How people can get upset over this is beyond me. If Russia is so effective at influencing our elections then maybe our political leaders should I don't know duplicate Russia's tactics???? instead of bitching and moaning about how they're influencing our elections. I do want to point out that we have influenced a lot of other countries via different means over the last 100 years- from outright supporting overthrows to similar sorts of manipulation of democratic votes. It's a bit late to say "how dare you do that!" when we've been doing it for a hundred plus years already.
but it was Mays own party that proposed Brexit on a gamble. After the country actually voted in favour of it, 3 separate politicians assumed responsibility for the fiasco and each stepped aside as the brakes were nowhere to be found on this train. Even Boris Johnson had a swing at the corpulent trashbag known as Brexit. the UK even went so far as to say the legislation was somehow nonbinding, and when pressed by the EU to exist in a timely fashion had the audacity to demand "a good deal" in exchange for leaving. They did not in fact get a deal.
now may's trying again, desparately, to save face and pin the blame on russia? Seriously? At some point someone has to call her bluff and ask what strategic or tactical advantage Russia gains by sabotaging a nation into exile from a trade group russia already has formal relations with (the EU)? In other words, why would russia intentionally make it more cumbersome to trade with the UK?
Good people go to bed earlier.
If only to spare me from all your Russian investigation updates. Don't have a Facebook and I still receive their updates...
Russia helped expose all of the democrats crimes.
So they're evil now. No no no don't look at the democrat crimes! focus on russia! that's whats important now. russia!
Ya so what's your real name jackass?
I don't give a shit if Russia, China, and North Korea were posting memes on your Facebook feed.
Show me proof that shitposting on the internet actually DID anything. It didn't.
People are sick of the Liberals in the US and EU bullying them. Trump won, Brexit happened, because people are sick of your shit.
You lost. And until you admit that no, it's not Russian Boogeymen, and not just a few fringe nutjobs, you're going to keep losing.
Russiagaters are getting more and more desperately pathetic with each passing day. this pic about sums it up. Anything and everything can be and will be blamed on Russia, because we need a distraction from how horrible Hillary and her party are to lose the most winnable election in history.
Watch out! An evil Russian is behind every tree!
Lost your keys? Russians!
Got laid off? Vlad!
Your dog died? Oh, no, that was planned in Moscow!
I hope you RACISTS realize that you are provoking World War III with this foolishness.
The problem is something called sampling bias. If you only look for meddling by Russia in only decisions you dislike, then you can only find meddling by Russia only in decisions you dislike. e.g. If your landlord claims your apartment is filthy and is the source of the cockroaches that everyone in the building has been complaining about, and he does an extensive search for roaches in your apartment and finds some, that doesn't prove his claim. For all we know, your apartment could be the cleanest one in the building, and if he'd done the same extensive search on the other apartments he would've found a lot more roaches. But by searching only your unit, he's abusing sampling bias - cherry picking data by only looking in certain places - to try to make it appear as if you're the one at fault.*
If you want to investigate something like this in an objective manner, you need to look for meddling into all big political decisions by all foreign powers. This includes meddling by Facebook (a US corporation) abusing sampling bias to try to discredit the UK Brexit vote via a press release that millions if not tens of millions of Britons will hear about in the news..
* In this case the statistical error (by Facebook) is intentional. But sampling bias can creep in unintentionally too. The classic example is a surveyor tasked with finding out how many hours city residents ride the subway on average, so the city can make better decisions on if subway service should be expanded. He starts off by asking random people on the street how often they ride the subway each week. He grows frustrated that most people don't ride the subway at all, making it difficult for him to gather the required minimum number of positive responses to minimize the margin of error. Then he's struck with inspiration. He'll simply got aboard a subway train and ask the riders how many hours they ride each week. Since everyone on the subway must be subway riders, that'll neatly filter out all the non-riders he's been wasting his time with.
The problem is when you ask people riding on the subway instead of random people on the street, the odds of you encountering a heavy subway user are higher. e.g. If 80% of subway riders ride the subway 1 hour a week, and 20% ride it 10 hours a week, you are 2.5x as likely to sample a 10 hr/wk rider than you are a 1 hr/wk rider simply because they're on the subway a lot longer. So the statistical data you gather this way ends up biased high by your sampling method.
Don't bother trying to explain anything to them. Their delusion is too deep. Just watch and laugh. That's what I did when I saw this headline.
So is the left for or against private companies dicking around in political matters now?
Any reasonable person would be concerned about evidence of destabalising posting on open western media. You forget that it is a primary attack method of the Russian military and that their internet is tightly controlled. The evidence is likely to show external posts of strongly emotional appeals to both sides of any political dispute in order to break down the cohesiveness of our society.
Given many posts here they are doing a great job. We used to be largely content with voting to determine our politics and today there are many souces openly calling for civil war. Anywhere that there has actually been a civil war recently has a destroyed economy so I would not dismiss this method of attack quite so glibly.
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
Seems like a better idea to properly educate your population instead of wasting all these millions on useless investigations.
You forget that the Russians and other countries control what gets on their internet. Are you suggesting that we too should have a great firewall and hundreds of thousands of government workers removing posts from the internet?
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
...investigate their own meddling in world affairs, banning conservative accounts, deleting conservative posts, etc, etc.
oh...wait...
It would be a lot more believable if there were any signs of using EFFECTIVE methods of countering Russian propaganda. A commonly stated goal of Russia is to undermine faith in western democracies. Instead of changing policies to restore faith, they are using Russia to avoid actually implementing populist agendas.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
...who's interest is it in with depopulating Syria, and causing the refugee mess in Europe.
A quick look at your slashdot history is all it takes to see you've become more sock than puppet, king neckbeard
Seriously, the Internet Research Agency is the greatest political consulting firm in the world. With just a few thousand Facebook ads and Twitter messages, it was able to sway the Brexit vote and US Presidential election. Why spend a hundred million or more paying ineffective pussy established firms while you can get Russia's IRA for a few thousand rubles?
Yet this is only relevant when liberal causes fail.
When non-liberal causes fail, it's on their merits. When liberal causes fail, it's because someone was cheated and bamboozled. Britain is still trying to figure out how to undo the EU vote -- ironically on the eve of France's president saying that France would vote the same way -- just as the media is trying to play up anything to discredit Trump's victory, including Facebook tampering from Russia.
From the actual evidence though, Russia spent an estimated $100,000 and it did not solely target either candidate, which discredits the narrative outright. Furthermore, if Russia was able to steer an election where the campaign to elect Hillary spent more than $1,400,000,000 (that's $1.4 BILLION) and the same for Trump spent more than $950,000,000.
If $100,000 is actually what won the US election, due to some destabilizing ads (the same work that the West does in other areas), then the West is screwed and beyond saving already. But in reality, these kind of ads went to low-information voters that tend to vote along party lines anyway. If you actually saw one of those ads, then you shouldn't be questioning why Russia is tampering (that should be obvious), rather you should be questioning why they think you were susceptible enough to such lowbrow ads.
These platforms -- mostly Facebook and Twitter -- are keeping themselves in the news because it helps them, and probably a bunch of them are dumb enough to believe that this is what swayed the election because they don't know anyone that could have voted for X. They see that as a measurement of their own intelligence rather than being completely out of touch. Now the mission is helping those poor buffoons who voted for X, so that this never happens again.
These platforms should stop allowing such ads to be run, period. Not just trying to steer the narrative, which is their new goal.
Russia's goal is probably to keep the American voting public disunited. It is in their best interest to keep each half of the population thinking that the other half are un-American traitors.
What should make you angry is that it doesn't take much, since the politicians, cable commentators, and Internet comment sections do most of the work already. Just a few nudges are required.
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So
* A government spends mega dollar$ educating the sheeple over many years.
* Someone spends a few dollars buying some Ads on facebook.
* A government worries a large enough percentage of its educated sheeple are being subverted into wrong think by scrolling past an Ad on facebook and subconciously looking at it for a few milliseconds.
Conclusions?
* A government thinks most of its sheeple are just plain stupid - education system has failed.
* The sheeple have been programmed perfectly - but the government didnt suspect other people would use them for there own purposes.
* Its all just a load of BS.
> Any reasonable person would be concerned about evidence of destabalising posting on open western media.
That's not what a reasonable person would do in the USA, but that's been promoted by various partisan sources as a theory to great consternation.
Freedom of expression has consequences. You either subscribe to the will of The People to govern themselves with free exchange of ideas (ostensibly through forms of speech) or you subscribe to the belief that it's ultimately not freedom of expression that's virtuous, but some sort of isolated echo chamber. If speech itself can become tainted with the ideas that are contrary to their intended meaning (due to clever wordplay, misinformation, etc), without some authoritative body with oversight, is it really freedom of expression anymore?
Title says it all.
...to not know that Democrats not only aren't left, they're hard-core right wingers frequently more extreme than the GOP?
There have been a lot of media reports of massive Russian meddling in the Brexit campaign, but the first investigation found they spent £0.73:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/12/13/facebook-russians-spent-just-73-pence-ads-brexit-campaign/
Of course, this didn't stop the left wing media claiming there was Russian involvement. Sure, if they spent £0.73 then there was Russian involvement, but the scale of involvement has been intentionally misrepresented.
What the leftists can't seem to handle is that Brexit and Trump occurred, not because of Russian meddling or because people were tricked, but because a great many people wanted them to happen. If the leftists left their echo chambers for a brief moment, they might actually realise that.
At least Macron understands that people genuinely don't like the left wing agenda. When asked if given a vote on the EU would the French vote to leave, he said "probably":
https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/955019112031244288
Of course, the French will never get a vote. After the March elections it may well be that Italy do get a vote, and that would really get the ball rolling.
I'm just waiting for Facebook to investigate if Russians made Han Solo shoot first...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
So Russia is running CNN, Huffpo, Fox, etc? Russia is programming these university professors to call for white genocide? Because those entities are the ones I see as blatantly attempting to cause division among the people. Yet none of the Russiagate screamers ever point their blame cannons at those. So either they're completely ignorant, or they're liars with a different agenda than they claim.
> At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, it makes perfect sense to scrutinise tactics more closely if they actually worked.
Of course it makes sense. People wouldn't fall prey to sampling bias unless it appeared to make perfect sense to do so.
But you've also fallen prey to anchoring bias, so you're stuck on the first conclusion you've come to, and you won't even look to see who else might be meddling.
For GB to complain about manipulating anyone's internal affairs is beyond hypcritical. Britain ran an empire based on manipulating internal affairs of unsuspecting colonies. It still uses subtle levers of influence and plausible deniability to set people against each other all the while putting "mother england" on some sort of pedestal. England lives chiefly through its alliances. BBC meddles in internal affairs of former colonies on regular basis under the guise of covering "foreign affairs". The fact that Russian IT companies are being used by anonymous foreign interests to launder (anonymize) their information campaign is in no way an indication of Russia itself using an influence. Russia simply doesn't have anything to gain from it.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
If it's such a nothing why have they all been caught lying about it?
We have facebook and twitter for that.
EVERYONE RUN! This ludicrous-excuse is out of control! AARrRHRHggGgHGHghghGHGHGHhHhhHHHhhhHHH!
Despite the fact that Donald Treason refuses to acknowledge Russian attacks on our country:
The #SchumerShutdown Hashtag Is Getting A Big Boost From Russian Bots
The GOP slogan is now the top trending hashtag being promoted by Russian influence operators on Twitter.
By Jennifer Bendery
JORGE SILVA / REUTERS
WASHINGTON As lawmakers wage a messaging war over who caused the government shutdown, Republicans and the White House are getting a big boost in their efforts to blame Democrats for the mess â from the Russians.
#SchumerShutdown - the hashtag that GOP leaders and the White House are using to accuse Democrats of causing the shutdown - on Sunday night became the top trending hashtag being promoted by Russian bots and trolls on Twitter, according to the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a project led by former top national security officials from both parties.
Hereâ(TM)s a chart by Alliance for Securing Democracy, last updated at 10 p.m. Sunday, showing the #SchumerShutdown hashtag blowing up among Russia-linked influence networks.
ALLIANCE FOR SECURING DEMOCRACY
#SchumerShutdown has surpassed #ReleaseTheMemo as the highest trending hashtag among Russian influence campaigns. The campaigned seized on that hashtag earlier this month in an effort to pressure Republican lawmakers to release a classified memo written by House GOP aides that allegedly describes abuses in FBI surveillance practices. Conservative organizations like Breitbart and the Daily Caller have given major coverage to the memo, but Democratic lawmakers have denounced it as deeply misleading.
Alliance for Securing Democracy tracks activity from 600 monitored Twitter accounts linked to Russian influence operations. It has found that Russian bots and trolls frequently amplify content attacking the United States, conspiracy theories and misinformation.
citation provided When whining about the source try to find a single inaccurate claim. Thanks.
You guys do realize that, assuming that Moscow wants to divide us for some unfathomable reason, claiming that everyone who disagrees with you is a Russian troll is only helping them, right? Not to mention it's appallingly racist.
Then again, what should we expect from followers of the party that organized the filibuster of the Civil Rights Act?
Of course not. I'm simply saying anybody who doesn't like this is a fucking hypocrite if they support any of our past actions overseas outside of very particular self defense scenarios (maybe the world wars in other words or if you go back farther you might find some other wars where the US was invaded, attacked, or threatened, but many of those wars were also really us invading other nations, ie many native american nations pre-date the colonial powers invading).
So Russia is running Huffpo, Fox, etc?
I deleted the one that made the comment look a bit stupid.
Of course not. Russia doesn't have to run MSNBC or Fox News. Americans have mostly turned on each other on their own after there was no common enemy left at the end of the Cold War (although this round of division has its origin in the 1970s in the wake of the Southern Strategy, Watergate, and the Powell Memorandum). Russia only has to nudge things a little.
You can't actually make someone cheat on their partner. You can only amplify what is already there.
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'Russiaâ(TM)s all we talk about but voters don't care': CNN reporter admits network's obsession on air
> May has said Russia's attempts to "sow discord" in the West could not go unchallenged, and warned Vladimir Putin, "We know what you are up to."
What she really means is "we're busy screwing up Britain ourselves and don't need Mr Putin's help".
I can tell you the view from ground zero, the people who voted for Brexit are not even able to use Facebook. They rely on the talk at the pub, and there they had the Romanians and Bulgarians to blame (highly visible as construction workers). Later the Bulgarian politicians started to make noise so only the Romanians were blamed.
Brexit is nothing more than the voice of racism and for that there is not need for Russia or Farcebook to stir it.
In the specific case of Brexit, there are two different challenges to consider.
The first is whether or not *any* foreign government had the ability to influence the preferences of the British people when it came to the vote. I notice that much discussion is being given to the potential for Russian meddling, but I also note that nobody batted an eye when Barak Obama not only made very pro-Brexit comments, but also made it very clear that if Britain elected to vote to leave, then Britain would be put to "the back of the queue" when it came to negotiating a trade deal with the US.
Or how about the fact that the government of the day spent literally millions of pounds of Tax-Payers money to fund their part of the campaign, by physically posting their views to every single household in the country via a mail-dropped leaflet. This was clearly an attempt at influencing public opinion, and the money to do so was spent only by the "Remain" campaign, because that happened to be the position taken by the Prime Minister of the day [not even the "Government of the Day", seeing as how numerous ministers favoured leaving].
So the first issue is a pretty specious point, really. However accurate and however valid the point is, it's largely irrelevant to point to some underhand foreign government meddling in the Brexit vote when the standing UK Government of the day were tilting the odds so far the other way...
The second point concerns the foundation of democracy itself. The final Brexit vote was split 52:48 (%) in favour of leaving the EU. This vote, which was operated on 100% democratic principles [i.e. of "one person, one vote" - and not the "first pass the post" method used for UK General Elections], was a significantly stronger vote in favour of an outcome than any UK General Election in living memory. For example, when David Cameron [who was Prime Minister at the time] won his second term in office, he secured 44% of the popular vote.
44%. The Brexit vote secured 52% - an outright majority. Yet Cameron was returned to Government with a large majority... Even more curiously, nobody demanded a recount or a second General Election even though he only won 44% of the vote... [OK, cheeky argument, since the two events were handled under different rules]. But the point stands.
You only have to look at the way that political elites have reacted to the vote - one in which the British people had the temerity to vote for what they actually wanted - to see how important this vote was. Since the decision was made the EU has gone out of it's way to try and bully, cajole, frighten or threaten the UK into having a second Referendum to overturn the first decision.
Whether or not you agree with the decision to leave the EU, this external force from the EU, which is a million times worse than any influence Russia could have brought to bear, must be resisted at ALL costs. If the UK caves then there is nothing to stop the EU from becoming a totalitarian state - which might sound a bit melodramatic, but consider the significance of a state which simply sets aside democratic decisions because they are not what the elite wants.
We would do well to remember that the more we allow ourselves to be torn up by this, the better it is for Russia or any foreign state with an axe to grind.
Hilary Clinton won the popular vote in the 2016 Presidential Election, but didn't undermine the electoral process with protest court cases. The UK should look to that example and respect the decision.
And if the UK or other countries want to make material improvements, then there is nothing to stop them from putting more effort into stamping out voting fraud, is there? Don't see much on that topic...
Israeli meddling is OK
Meddling in other countries' politics is in the lyrics to UK's national fucking anthem.
What if Putin tries to influence the Brexit's outcome with media reports about possible influence over Brexit's outcome by Putin?
The only effective response is to draw attention to it. If people get notifications from Facebook saying "this post you liked and re-posted to all your friends was actually Russian propaganda" it might alter their behaviour and views on the subject. It might make them think twice next time.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
The Russian propaganda is "Your politicians don't listen to you and your democracy is a farce." That line is a lot harder to sell if you are politicians DO listen to you, and your democracy ISN'T a farce.
For example, had the Democratic nominee been Bernie Sanders, the emails showing the corruption of the DNC would HELP him, not hurt him, because it would paint him as an underdog fighting against corruption. THAT would be an effective countermeasure.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
> Theresa May has said Russia's attempts to "sow discord" in the West could not go unchallenged
Yeah, whatabout being not idiot? May who was driving brexit should take the responsibility instead of crying how Putin was behind it (even he is).
With NO explanation of what, exactly, constitutes "meddling".
Oh, they mean trying to INFLUENCE voters to vote one way or the other - rather like the entire Jewish controlled media has been doing for the past fifty years! How 'democratic'. And anybody who speaks out against this Jewish power will be attacked by the same Jewish controlled media until they are sacked from their jobs, fined, or even put in prison!
The denial of free speech is the first act of tyranny.
I don't think the Russians have goals that specific in mind. They just create division and anger, and let it do whatever damage it ends up doing.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Show me proof that shitposting on the internet actually DID anything. It didn't.
It got the uneducateds to believe electing someone from liberal New York City would be the worst thing to happen to this country.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
The point still stands. It's easier to sow division and anger when people have legitimate reasons to be angry. The best resistance against foreign propaganda is a responsible government that serves its people's interests.
Also, if the Dems are to be believed, Putin personally ordered this operation, and Russia groomed Trump over a long period.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Hey Teresa, what about US/British intelligence meddling in Brazillian elections? And nearly all democratic nations relevant to the US in the last 50 years? Does it ring a bell?
In some cases they do spread disinformation. However many of the posts I've seen in the news recently describing russian "meddling" in the US election are just cases of the Russians apparently promoting certain facts that they like. Just because the Russians promote those facts does not make them untrue.
Says the Russian dude. Yeah, I've been watching you AHuxley.
Well according to the leftists, the vote was driven by the over 55s.
I thought over 55s were supposed to be useless at using technology?
The democrats aren't unAmerican traitors. That's antifa and the assorted other minions working almost directly for putin that are traitors.
The Telegraph piece and many others state why the 0.73 figure is misleading. I know you know this but others, more gullible, might fall for your tricks.
[MP] Mr Collins said Facebook had not been thorough enough. He said it had only identified adverts from pages that had already been discovered in the US investigation, and that studies showing thousands of Twitter bots had attempted to disrupt the vote were strong evidence that there was Russian meddling.
"It would appear that no work has been done by Facebook to look for Russian activity around the EU referendum, other than from funded advertisements from those accounts that had already been identified as part of the US Senate's investigation," he said.
From the link posted by the troll above:
Facebook has said less than £1 was spent on Russian adverts designed to disrupt the Brexit vote, downplaying claims that meddling from the Kremlin helped swing last yearâ(TM)s referendum.
The US internet giant responded to an investigation from the Electoral Commission by saying the Internet Research Agency, a shadowy organisation with links to the Russian government, spent just $0.97 (73p) in Britain during the two months of the EU referendum campaign.
However, its claims were instantly disputed by a senior MP.
Damian Collins, the chair of the digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) committee, accused Facebook of failing to probe the true extent of Russian meddling.
And surprise-surprise... They are going back to see if they've maybe, perhaps, possibly, missed some - once they are called out about it.
Just like how Facebook's could not have influenced the outcome of the election in November 2016.
But by April of 2017 "disinformation campaign during the election" WAS there but it was "statistically very small".
Then in September it turns out it they sold $150.000 worth of ads to Russians for some "3000 ads" connected to some 470 accounts, aimed at promoting discord on issues such as "gun rights, immigration, LGBT rights and race".
Or was that "80,000 pieces of content [which] may have been viewed by a total of 126 million people", as was revealed by late October 2017.
How those numbers keep growing... it's as almost as if Zuckerberg and Co. are lying through their teeth to cover their asses - then rolling over when pressed about it.
Meanwhile, in the land of Brexit...
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh identified 419 accounts operating from the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) attempting to influence UK politics out of 2,752 accounts suspended by Twitter in the US.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
The point still stands. It's easier to sow division and anger when people have legitimate reasons to be angry. The best resistance against foreign propaganda is a responsible government that serves its people's interests.
Actually, evidence indicates it's easier to sow division and anger when people don't have legitimate reasons to be angry. There's nothing you can do to satisfy the perpetual resentment and grousing that beguiles some people who just want to be upset. And they're also the most prone to influence by propaganda that gives them a convenient target to scapegoat, such as a responsible government that doesn't placate and mollify them with false promises and insincere blandishments.
Also, if the Dems are to be believed, Putin personally ordered this operation, and Russia groomed Trump over a long period.
If that was the case, then Putin should get a refund. Floyd really did a messed-up number with that grooming. But seriously, if Trump is to be believed, Obama somehow engaged in a widespread Machiavellian conspiracy that dated from his birth, that he was somehow raised to hate and despise America and destroy it, but only Trump could save us by waving his magic wand that suddenly made the economy (which had been growing for years, despite Trump's proclamations of disaster), blossom and grow. I will grant that shit is fertilizer, and Trump spreads copious amounts, but things don't work like that.
Sorry, but the real problem with Trump is not whether or not Russia influenced him, but the fact that he'd let them do it without even caring. He's been loud, obnoxious, and thoughtless for decades. He's dumb enough to blunder into almost anything.
Got it. Just wanted to make sure we all understand that the left is super racist, when it fits their agenda.
Accuse others of doing the very thing you're doing.
I thought over 55s were supposed to be useless at using technology?
Facebook is pretty much the "over 55s network"
The problem is they're trying to pretend it's not as bad as it is.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Sounds like they are trying to confirm their Russian meddling conspiracy theories.
Why use nanobots? All they needed to do was place ads and fake users on social media to get the shills riled up against one another by taking sides. That is all they needed to do to further divide and conquer. The Russians aren't to blame, nor are the Democrats, the Republicans or the media. In fact none of the bogeymen are really to blame even though they had a hand in doing so. In fact it is those that let themselves buy into their brand of propaganda just because they just so happen to agree with it while dismissing anything else as "propaganda" just because it isn't their own brand of propaganda. If the sheeple would just start using critical thinking skills none of this will happen again. Then again, using critical thinking skills is frowned upon by the world.
that is disliked by the liberal elites, can just be blamed on Russia as a mechanism to override that decision back to the path the elites prefer. Got it.
I see you use the EXACT same arguments that we invented here in America and just inserted your country's name. Stay classy, UK redneck.
Most unlikely. My guess is AHuxley is a former (or current?) USIC officer, who many years ago was a Chinese IC officer who defected to America. Buuuuuut, that's 100% a guess.