Russia focusing on American social media stars to covertly influence voters [View all]
I think many people miss the elephant in the room when they complain about traditional media like the NY Times, Wash Post, ABC, NBC, etc. This kind of thinking is outdated. Today, a majority of people under 65 get their news from social media platforms, and Trump and Russia has been exploiting this while many people are still focused on traditional media, which would be great if we were still in the 1990's or early 2000's.
https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-focusing-american-social-media-stars-covertly-influence-voters-2024-09-09/
Sept 9 (Reuters) - Russia is increasingly turning to American social media stars to covertly influence voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election, according to U.S. officials and recently unveiled criminal charges.
What we see them doing is relying on witting and unwitting Americans to seed, promote and add credibility to narratives that serve these foreign actors interest, a senior intelligence official said in a briefing on Friday. These foreign countries typically calculate that Americans are more likely to believe other Americans views.
The approach is widely viewed by American security agencies as one of Russias preferred tactics this cycle in order to make their foreign psychological operations appear more authentic. Broadly, these missions typically seek to anger Americans, highlight societal divisions and emphasize partisan talking points while questioning the U.S. governments effectiveness and role in global security, experts say.
We're focusing on these tactics because the American public should know that content that they read online, especially on social media, could be foreign propaganda, even if it appears to be coming from fellow Americans, another senior U.S. intelligence official said in a July briefing with reporters on election security. In short, foreign influence actors are getting better at hiding their hand and using Americans to do it.