Page 24 - aruba-today-20181218

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 18 december 2018
Key takeaways from new reports on Russian disinformation

By MATT O'BRIEN and BAR- sages exposed U.S. users to
BARA ORTUTAY a wide range of disinforma-
AP Technology Writers tion and junk news linked
Russians seeking to influ- to on external websites, in-
ence U.S. elections through cluding content designed
social media had their eyes to elicit outrage and cyni-
on Instagram and the black cism," says the report by
community. Oxford researchers, who
These were among the worked with social media
findings in two reports re- analysis firm Graphika.
leased Monday by the DEMOGRAPHIC TARGETING
Senate intelligence com- Both reports found that Rus-
mittee. Separate studies sian agents tried to polarize
from University of Oxford Americans in part by tar-
researchers and the cyber- geting African-American
security firm New Knowl- communities extensively.
edge reveal insights into They did so by campaign-
how Russian agents sought ing for black voters to boy-
to influence Americans by cott elections or follow the
saturating their favorite on- wrong voting procedures in
line services and apps with 2016, according to the Ox-
hidden propaganda. ford report.
Here are the highlights: Former FBI Director James Comey speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill Washington, Monday, Dec. The New Knowledge re-
INSTAGRAM'S "MEME WAR- 17, 2018, after a second closed-door interview with two Republican-led committees investigating port added that agents
FARE" what they say was bias at the Justice Department before the 2016 presidential election. were "developing Black
Both reports show that mis- audiences and recruiting
information on Facebook's And the barrage of image- Russian agents used rubles posts were more likely to be Black Americans as assets"
Instagram may have had centric Instagram "memes" to pay for some of their shared and commented beyond how they were tar-
broader reach than the has only grown since the propaganda ads drew on, and they rose in vol- geting either left- or right-
interference on Facebook 2016 election. Russian attention to how gullible ume during key dates in leaning voters.
itself. agents shifted their focus to tech companies were in U.S. politics such as during The reports also support
The New Knowledge study Instagram after the public allowing their services to the presidential debates in previous findings that the in-
says that since 2015, the In- last year became aware of be manipulated. But nei- 2016 or after the Obama fluence operations sought
stagram posts generated the widespread manipula- ther ads nor automated administration's post-elec- to polarize Americans by
187 million engagements, tion on Facebook and Twit- "bots" were as effective as tion announcement that it sowing political divisions on
such as comments or likes, ter. unpaid posts hand-crafted would investigate Russian issues such as immigration
compared with 77 million NOT JUST ADS by human agents pretend- hacking. and cultural and religious
on Facebook. Revelations last year that ing to be Americans. Such "These personalized mes- identities. q

First private Israeli lunar

mission will launch in Feb.

lay, and that SpaceX, the time capsule that will ac- of the craft.
private space exploration company the spacecraft SpaceIL was founded in
company founded by en- to the moon. 2011 and originally vied
trepreneur Elon Musk, no- The capsule, in the shape for Google's Lunar Xprize,
tified them that its rocket of a DVD, holds pictures which challenged private
will now lift off in February of the Israeli public, inter- companies to try to land
2019 without providing an pretive drawings by Israeli an unmanned spacecraft
explanation. children and other pieces on the moon.
Technicians stand next to the SpaceIL lunar module, an un- Israel Aerospace Indus- of national memorabilia, But the $20 million compe-
manned spacecraft, is on display in a special "clean room"
where the space craft is being developed, during a press tour tries manager Opher Do- including stories of Holo- tition was scrapped by the
of their facility near Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Dec. 17, 2018. ron stressed that the small caust survivors. tech giant earlier this year
Associated Press craft, roughly the size of a "We hope that far in the when it became clear
washing machine, faces future, when travel to the none of the five compa-
By ISABEL DEBRE nounced that the landing a "difficult, arduous jour- moon is as common as nies would meet a March
Associated Press craft, dubbed "Beresheet," ney" because it will have trans-Atlantic travel, that deadline.
YEHUD, Israel (AP) — An Is- or Genesis, will ship in Feb- to make several orbits be- children will be able to un- SpaceIL has vowed to
raeli nonprofit on Monday ruary to Florida. fore touching down on derstand the lives of their continue the mission and
said it has pushed back the Propelled by a SpaceX Fal- the moon. Upon landing, Israeli ancestors through hopes that its ambitious
launch of what it hopes will con rocket launch, the ro- the craft is to relay photo- this archive on the moon," $95 million project, largely
be the first private space- botic lander will then com- graphs and collect data said SpaceIL co-founder funded by South African-
craft to land on the moon mence its months-long about the moon's ever- Yonatan Winetraub. Israeli billionaire Morris
until February. voyage to the moon. It changing magnetism for A crowd of Israeli report- Kahn and other donors,
Officials from SpaceIL had been slated to launch research by Israel's Weiz- ers, clad in sanitized white will spur a new wave of
and its project partner, this month. mann Institute and NASA. coats, burst into applause commercial missions to the
the state-owned Israel SpaceIL said it had no con- On Monday, SpaceIL rep- as Winetraub fastened the moon and jump-start new
Aerospace Industries, an- trol over the launch's de- resentatives presented a capsule to the underbelly companies.q