Russian troll factory paid US activists to help fund protests during election Investigation

[Madam45for2923]

Russian troll factory paid US activists to help fund protests during election
Investigation finds Russians posing as Americans made payments to activists
Revelations likely to put further spotlight on Russian meddling in US election

Shaun Walker in Moscow
Tuesday 17 October 2017 12.13 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 17 October 2017 14.31 EDT
Russian trolls posing as Americans made payments to genuine activists in the US to help fund protest movements on socially divisive issues, according to a new investigation by a respected Russian media outlet.

On Tuesday, the newspaper RBC published a major investigation into the work of a so-called Russian “troll factory” since 2015, including during the period of the US election campaign, disclosures that are likely to put further spotlight on alleged Russian meddling in the election.

How Russia used social media to divide Americans

The existence of the troll factory, which has a history of spamming Russian and English blogs and comment forums, has been reported on by many outlets including the Guardian, but the RBC investigation is the first in-detail look at the organisation’s activity during the election period.

RBC said it had identified 118 accounts or groups in Facebook, Instagram and Twitter that were linked to the troll factory, all of which had been blocked in August and September this year as part of the US investigation into Russian electoral meddling.

Many of the accounts had already been linked to Russian disinformation efforts in western outlets, but RBC said its sources at the troll factory had provided screenshots of the internal group administration pages of some of the groups, as proof they were run from Russia. It also spoke to former and current employees of the troll factory, all of whom spoke anonymously.

Perhaps the most alarming element of the article was the claim that employees of the troll factory had contacted about 100 real US-based activists to help with the organisation of protests and events. RBC claimed the activists were contacted by Facebook group administrators hiding their Russian origin and were offered financial help to pay for transport or printing costs. About $80,000 was spent during a two-year period, according to the report.

The main topics covered by the groups run from Russia were race relations, Texan independence and gun rights. RBC counted 16 groups relating to the Black Lives Matter campaign and other race issues that had a total of 1.2 million subscribers. The biggest group was entitled Blacktivist and reportedly had more than 350,000 likes at its peak.

Last month, CNN also reported that US authorities believed the Blacktivist Facebook group and Twitter account were the work of Russian impostors.

The infiltration of American social networks by Russian trolls and bots appears to be the conclusion of an operation that began by targeting the Russian-language internet space, grew to encompass the comment pages of western newspapers and blogs, and eventually seems to have led to the creation of whole Facebook communities designed to look like they are run by ordinary Americans.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/17/russian-troll-factory-activists-protests-us-election?CMP=twt_gu

[ck4829]

1. Apathy is the end-goal

[Madam45for2923]

2. In the meantime gullible people get gullied.

[Iliyah]

3. t-rump and crew knew about paid protesters and that is why they put

it on Dems and their protesters. Shit is slowly raising it's ugly head. I want proof, confirmation, verification the GOP and Russians rigged the ECs.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. So agree,bring us some names .

[Madam45for2923]

5. It is always projection with these.