Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Friday 6 March 2020

Report: Russian social accounts sow election discord - again

By AMANDA SEITZ and BAR- "coordinated inauthentic
BARA ORTUTAY behavior," and strengthen-
Associated Press ing verification procedures
Four years after Russia- for political ads.
linked groups stoked divi- Kim's analysis found the
sions in the U.S. presidential accounts appeared to
election on social media mimic existing political
platforms, a new report ones, including one called
shows that Moscow's cam- "Bernie.2020_" that used
paign hasn't let up and has campaign logos to make it
become harder to detect. seem like it was connected
The report from University to Sanders' campaign or
of Wisconsin-Madison pro- was a fan page for his sup-
fessor Young Mie Kim found porters, Kim said.
that Russia-linked social Some presidential candi-
media accounts are post- dates also were targeted
ing about the same divisive directly.
issues — race relations, gun An account called Stop.
laws and immigration — as Trump2020 posted anti-
they did in 2016, when the Trump content. Other Ins-
Kremlin polluted American tagram accounts pushed
voters' feeds with messages negative messages about
about the presidential elec- Democrat Joe Biden.
tion. Facebook has since "Like for Trump 2020," said
removed the accounts. one meme featuring a por-
Since then, however, the trait photo of Trump and a
Russians have grown better photo of Biden. "Ignore for
at imitating U.S. campaigns This March 4, 2020, image shows a collection of Instagram posts, which Facebook, the owner of Biden 2020."
and political fan pages Instagram, yanked off the site in October after concluding that they originated from Russia and It was posted by an Insta-
had links to the Internet Research Agency, a Russian operation that targeted U.S. audiences in
online, said Kim, who ana- 2016. gram account called Iowa.
lyzed thousands of posts. Associated Press Patriot, one of several ac-
She studied more than 5 counts that targeted spe-
million Facebook ads dur- in this year's election. The tect themselves from it. the online techniques Rus- cific communities in crucial
ing the 2016 election, iden- classified briefing detailed Russia has repeatedly de- sia has already used in this swing states like Michigan,
tifying Russia's fingerprints Russian efforts to boost the nied interfering in the U.S. year's presidential race, Ohio and Iowa with mes-
on some of the messages White House bids of both elections, and did again on including targeting battle- saging.
through an ad-tracking Republican President Don- Thursday. ground states with its divi- The accounts also ap-
app. Her review is co-pub- ald Trump and Democratic "You just want us to repeat sive messaging. peared to capitalize on
lished by the Brennan Cen- Sen. Bernie Sanders. again that we have noth- Her review identified thou- other divisive American is-
ter for Justice, a law and Last month, FBI Director ing to do with the U.S. elec- sands of posts last year from sues that emerged after
policy institute, where she is Christopher Wray warned tions," Russia's foreign min- more than 30 Instagram the 2016 election.
a scholar. that Russia was still waging istry spokeswoman Maria accounts, which Facebook Some Instagram accounts
The Russian improvements "information warfare" with Zakharova said. removed from the site in pretended to be liberal,
make it harder for voters an army of fictional social Russia has refined its tech- October after concluding feminist groups as fallout
and social media platforms media personas and bots niques since 2016 and new that they originated from from the #MeToo move-
to identify the foreign inter- that spread disinformation. foreign actors have joined Russia and had links to the ment, which has exposed
ference, Kim said. In a rare, joint statement the game, making it harder Internet Research Agency, sexual misconduct allega-
"For normal users, it is too Monday, the leaders of to identify Kremlin-backed a Russian operation that tions against high-profile
subtle to discern the differ- America's intelligence disinformation said Thom- targeted U.S. audiences in public figures. Others tar-
ences," Kim said. "By mim- agencies cautioned that as Rid, a national security 2016. Facebook owns Insta- geted conservative wom-
icking domestic actors, foreign actors were spread- expert who has written a gram. Analysis from Graphi- en with posts that criticized
with similar logos (and) simi- ing false information ahead book about the Kremlin's ka, a disinformation secu- abortions.
lar names, they are trying of Super Tuesday to "cause history of spreading disin- rity firm, also concluded at "I don't need feminism,
to avoid verification." confusion and create formation. the time that the accounts because real feminism is
Kim's report comes weeks doubt in our system." "I do pick up some chatter went to "great lengths to about equal opportunity
after U.S. intelligence offi- But intelligence officials that the visibility into Russian hide their origins." and respect for women.
cials briefed lawmakers on have not released any de- operations is not as good "We will keep evolving our NOT about abortions, free
Russian efforts to stir chaos tails about the type of dis- as it may appear," Rid said. defenses and announc- birth control ...." a meme on
in American politics and un- information or explained "It's very difficult to spot Rus- ing these influence cam- one account read.
dermine public confidence how Americans should pro- sian interference today." paigns, as we did more The accounts varied in how
Still, it's unclear how much than 50 times last year," often they posted, the size
impact — if any — Russian Facebook said in an email. of their following and the
disinformation tactics have After getting caught off- traction the posts received.
had on voters. Some of Rus- guard with Russia's 2016 But they carried the hall-
sia's social media ads in the election interference marks of a Russian-backed
2016 U.S. presidential elec- attempts, Facebook, online disinformation cam-
tion were seen by only a Google, Twitter and others paign, Kim said.
handful of people and their put safeguards in place to "They're clearly adapting
impact has been "vastly prevent it from happening to current affairs," Kim said.
overstated," Rid said. again. This includes taking "Targeting both sides with
But Kim's report pulls back down posts, groups and messages is very unique to
the curtain on some of accounts that engage in Russia."q