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US Congressmen Reveal Thousands of Facebook Ads Bought By Russian Trolls (mercurynews.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday released about 3,400 Facebook ads purchased by Russian agents around the 2016 presidential election on issues from immigration to gun control, a reminder of the complexity of the manipulation that Facebook is trying to contain ahead of the midterm elections. The ads, which span from mid-2015 to mid-2017, illustrate the extent to which Kremlin-aligned forces sought to stoke social, cultural and political unrest on one of the Web's most powerful platforms. With the help of Facebook's targeting tools, Russia's online army reached at least 146 million people on Facebook and Instagram, its photo-sharing service, with ads and other posts, including events promoting protests around the country...
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said lawmakers would continue probing Russia's online disinformation efforts. In February, Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russia and the 2016 election, indicted individuals tied to the IRA for trying to interfere in the presidential race. "They sought to harness Americans' very real frustrations and anger over sensitive political matters in order to influence American thinking, voting and behavior," Schiff said in a statement. "The only way we can begin to inoculate ourselves against a future attack is to see first-hand the types of messages, themes and imagery the Russians used to divide us...."
The documents released Thursday also reflect that Russian agents continued advertising on Facebook well after the presidential election... They marketed a page called Born Liberal to likely supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the data show, an ad that had more than 49,000 impressions into 2017. Together, the ads affirmed the fears of some lawmakers, including Republicans, that Russian agents have continued to try to influence U.S. politics even after the 2016 election. Russian agents also had created thousands of accounts on Twitter, and in January, the company revealed that it discovered more than 50,000 automated accounts, or bots, with links to Russia.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said lawmakers would continue probing Russia's online disinformation efforts. In February, Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russia and the 2016 election, indicted individuals tied to the IRA for trying to interfere in the presidential race. "They sought to harness Americans' very real frustrations and anger over sensitive political matters in order to influence American thinking, voting and behavior," Schiff said in a statement. "The only way we can begin to inoculate ourselves against a future attack is to see first-hand the types of messages, themes and imagery the Russians used to divide us...."
The documents released Thursday also reflect that Russian agents continued advertising on Facebook well after the presidential election... They marketed a page called Born Liberal to likely supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the data show, an ad that had more than 49,000 impressions into 2017. Together, the ads affirmed the fears of some lawmakers, including Republicans, that Russian agents have continued to try to influence U.S. politics even after the 2016 election. Russian agents also had created thousands of accounts on Twitter, and in January, the company revealed that it discovered more than 50,000 automated accounts, or bots, with links to Russia.
You might say: "But, but, the United State of America is a sovereign state, it's the voters and alone the voters who need to decide". Sure, but there is propaganda bought by the parties themselves, by multinational corporations having no allegiance to any country, and whoever wants to put money into influencing a vote. Don't forget that the US likes to interfere with elections of other countries too, but that's a-ok, right?
Is it perhaps, just the admission that voters are easily swayed by bad propaganda that is hard to admit?
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
"The only way we can begin to inoculate ourselves against a future attack is to see first-hand the types of messages, themes and imagery the Russians used to divide us...."
/sarcasm
If they did anything, it's profit on already pre-existing divisions, they are certainly not the cause of it. There already were stories about some 17yr old KIDS from Poland or Hungary or something creating fake sites / and raking it thousands of dollars in ad revenue (by exploiting the already existing division between left and right)
I'm bored of saying it but... Yes, it's all Russia's fault.
Reason Trump got elected - Russia.
Reason BREXIT happpened - Russia.
When somebody gets poisoned... you know who did it ? - Russia
Doping scandals - Russia
When you come from that part of the world, the money is 100% motivation. When you grow up not having any, all you can think off is getting it, especially if you're a teen and your parents always were and are broke - something most Americans can't understand.
The political situation in US (and religious in the world) is RIPE for making money on, you just have to have a little bit of imagination and have to be kept down for a very long time.
The article is just fluff we all already knew. Show me a link to the actual ads.
Since TFS is suffering from incomplete data, we can't really draw that conclusion. What percentage of the ads submitted by Russian trolls or state agents do they believe this sample represents? 1%? 10%? All of them? There's a huge difference there, and that's before you take into account the number of impressions and how well targetted they were: if McDonald's were to scattergun 100 different ads across 100,000 random people and send a single ad to 10,000,000 people known to frequent fast food joints, I suspect the latter is going to provide a much greater RoI, even allowing for the higher cost.
Proving that the ads were actually effective in doing so though - in both the Russian and my fast food example - is entirely different matter of course, and far more subjective - especially given that people generally don't like to admit they might have been coerced into a course of action though some form of manipulation.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
It's a minor deal, though, not a big deal. It's a mere blip in campaign advertising. The total ad buy was for $46K. Compare that to the $81 MILLION buy from Clinton and Trump.
"We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
So, why couldn't the Clinton campaign counter that by, I don't know, having policies that people liked and cared about?
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Are you daft? He asked for prosecutable evidence. What the DNC did to Sanders is rightly viewed as morally reprehensible by many, but it was perfectly legal.