Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Friday 17 august 2018
Using common social media tactics to subvert US elections

By MAE ANDERSON From there, legitimate or-
AP Technology Writer ganizations sometimes
NEW YORK (AP) — The lat- spread the messages fur-
est efforts to disrupt the U.S. ther.
midterm elections through "Americans thus became
Facebook manipulation the unwitting amplifiers of
seem to be following a per- Russian information opera-
suasion playbook refined tions," the Atlantic Council
by legitimate companies researchers wrote.
and organizations — but One indication that these
with a twist. efforts are working is that
The aim of these possibly legitimate activist groups
Russia-linked perpetrators seem to have gotten swept
appears to be to draw in as up in some of the event
many people as possible listings created by these
with emotional appeals purportedly fake groups.
and then spur them to ac- For instance, several anti-
tion. racism groups attached
In this case, though, the ac- themselves to a Washing-
tion is public protest rather ton protest called "No Unite
than affinity marketing, the Right 2."
and the goal is to sow dis- Though April Goggans, an
sension rather than to build organizer of Black Lives Mat-
brand awareness. ter DC, said the protest was
"They're almost functioning organized by real people
like social media editors, in the U.S., the event listing
figuring out what the trend- This Nov. 1, 2017, file photo shows some of the Facebook ads linked to a Russian effort to disrupt on Facebook was created
ing topics are in the U.S. the American political process and stir up tensions around divisive social issues, released by by a left-leaning account
and figuring out where they members of the U.S. House Intelligence committee, are photographed in Washington. that Facebook identified as
can insert themselves," said fake. Facebook cancelled
Jennifer Grygiel, a commu- More recently, Facebook Russian agents took ad- pear designed "to trigger the account — and the list-
nications professor at Syra- said it had removed 32 vantage of the same tools standoffs between genu- ing — less than two weeks
cuse University. apparently fake accounts available to businesses and ine Americans, bringing before it was to take place.
The idea, experts say, is to and pages on Facebook groups to target messages the risk of real-life violence Overall, the 32 accounts
widen the rifts in the U.S. and Instagram created by with precision. One video from false stories," wrote the Facebook deleted recent-
population via propagan- "bad actors" involved in parodying Trump was tar- Digital Forensic Research ly tried to organize about
da that is less about win- what Facebook calls inau- geted at blacks who also Lab of the Atlantic Coun- 25 events. About half took
ning hearts and minds and thentic political behavior were interested in Black- cil, which has been work- place, even though the un-
much more about setting ahead of the U.S. midterms. News.com, HuffPost Politics ing with Facebook to study known agents behind them
Americans against one an- Although Facebook didn't or HuffPost Black Voices, for misinformation and foreign had no one on the ground
other. specifically say Russians instance. interference on its services. and had to coerce people
The removed pages share were behind the latest ef- This time around, the efforts Those behind the accounts into attending the events
"moralistic language" and forts, the reported activ- seem more focused on aren't spending a lot of purely through Facebook.
appeal to emotions, said ity shared many similari- calling people to partici- time creating original posts. Van Bavel said that sug-
Jay Van Bavel, a New York ties with Russian influence pate in protests and take Instead, they do what gests the agents behind this
University psychology pro- campaigns during the 2016 action, at least based on many other people do on "have a fairly sophisticated
fessor who studies group presidential election. the limited information pro- social media to get likes understanding of what our
identity. "The conflict al- It isn't clear how well the ef- vided by Facebook so far. and clicks: They steal or re- weak spots are psychologi-
ready existed but they're forts worked or if they have The removed accounts ap- share other people's posts. cally as Americans."q
stirring it up, picking at a swayed the outcome of
scab." elections, either in 2016 or
David Stewart, a marketing this time around. Sowing
and business law professor discord, however, could
at Loyola Marymount Uni- prompt people to stay
versity, said those behind home instead of voting —
the scheme are trying to or to vote for more extreme
create an "us versus them" candidates who support
mentality, without which their view, experts say. Dis-
Facebook users might not cord could also lead to
be so polarized. real-world violence and
Groups tied to the Russian conflict.
government have been try- During the 2016 elections,
ing to meddle in U.S. politics Russian agents bought a
since at least the 2016 elec- slew of issue-based ads to
tions. In February, the Jus- push arguments for and
tice Department charged against immigration, gun
13 Russians and three com- rights and other issues.
panies with plotting to aid Many of them attempted
Donald Trump's presidential to stoke racial divisions by
campaign through fake mentioning police brutal-
Facebook posts, ads and ity or disparaging the Black
groups. Lives Matter movement.