Russian Government Reportedly Linked to Fake Black Activist Social Media Accounts
Fake black activist accounts linked to the Russian government sought to amplify racial tension during 2016 election https://t.co/62tpMcshfl
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) September 29, 2017
Yesterday, CNN reported that one of the Facebook political ads purchased by a Russian troll farm during the 2016 presidential election was a Black Lives Matter advertisement targeting Ferguson and Baltimore. This indicated that the Kremlin was specifically targeting certain areas of the country with politically divisive social media content in an attempt to sow chaos and discord during the election season.
This evening, CNN came out with another bombshell report showing that the Russian government also used a social media campaign on both Facebook and Twitter to try to exploit and amplify racial tensions during the election. The account, Blactivist, had over 360,000 likes on Facebook, which was actually more than the verified Black Lives Matter account. The Blactivist Twitter account was created on April 2016. At this time, it isn’t clear when the Facebook page was formed.
The accounts were apparently looking to amp up outrage across the country:
Both Blacktivist accounts, each of which used the handle Blacktivists, regularly shared content intended to stoke outrage. “Black people should wake up as soon as possible,” one post on the Twitter account read. “Black families are divided and destroyed by mass incarceration and death of black men,” another read. The accounts also posted videos of police violence against African Americans.
[…]
The page also publicized at least seven rallies and demonstrations around the country in 2016. The events ranged from the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party to a march in Baltimore commemorating the death of Freddie Gray. In several cases, it appears that the events were real, and were organized by other groups, but that the Blacktivist account was working to increase turnout.
This report comes on the heels of Twitter delivered a presentation to both the House and Senate Intel Committees and stated that they have taken down many Russia-linked troll accounts. However, the top Democrat on the Senate Intel Committee slammed Twitter after their appearance today, stating that their presentation was disappointing and inadequate.
Watch the report above, via CNN.
[image via Shutterstock]
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