Facebook and Twitter target left-leaning voters and remove pro-Russia accounts: NPR

Examples of fake news shared on Facebook by Peace Data, a research firm called Graphica, are part of the Kremlin’s campaign to exclude voters from the campaign of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

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Graphica

Examples of fake news shared on Facebook by Peace Data, a research firm called Graphica, are part of the Kremlin’s campaign to exclude voters from the campaign of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Graphica

On Tuesday, Facebook and Twitter reported that Russian government actors who had tried to spread false stories about racial justice had removed accounts linked to the Democratic presidential campaign of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and the policies of President Trump.

Researchers They are the ones who studied the process In 2016, Biden-Harris said he was trying to divert left-leaning voters from the campaign in response to Russian misinformation campaigns seeking to reduce the support of progressive and minority minorities to Hillary Clinton.

Facebook said Russian agents were able to set up a site pretending to be an independent news agency and hire “unknown freelance journalists” to write stories shared by dozens of social media accounts created by artificial intelligence.

Russian activists, according to Facebook, primarily used the website Peace Data. It has built itself into a news site aimed at shedding light on corruption, abuse of power and human rights.

Both Facebook and Twitter have detected accounts associated with the site and removed them.

Facebook deleted 13 accounts and two pages and gained 14,000 followers. Twitter said it had suspended five accounts and would continue to block any content linked to the Peace Data website.

“Regardless of the minimal impact on this matter, governments around the world must stop these practices. They are anti-democratic. Attempts to manipulate our service to undermine democracy – by foreign and domestic actors – are policies that meet our strict enforcement,” Twitter said in a statement.

Facebook said its investigation began after it received a tip from the FBI about accounts controlled by the Kremlin-backed Russian Internet research firm, and US intelligence agencies say it interfered in the 2016 election to help then-candidate Trump.

In the two months leading up to the presidential election, social media companies, including Facebook and Twitter, have come under intense pressure from Congress and outside groups to step up efforts to prevent the spread of misinformation, which often moves fast on platforms before analysts respond.

Both Facebook and Twitter have announced new policies that include posts that contain misleading or manipulated media, attempting to add context to popular stories, and completely deleting posts when content shamelessly violates their rules.

Graphica, a social media analytics firm, says the demotion is likely to reveal new tactics used by Russian activists on social media ahead of the 2020 election, including the use of artificial intelligence to create social media profiles.

“It simply came to our notice then [Internet Research Agency]Linked accounts use AI-generated avatars. However, the website used real and explicitly unknown people, usually new freelance writers, to write its articles, “said a graphic researcher. New report In Russian support accounts.

Between February and August, the website shared more than 500 articles in English and about 200 Arabic languages ​​on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, according to Graphica.

Researchers cite an article by a guest writer accusing Biden and Harris of being “subservient to right-wing populism.” […] It’s more about saving lives than getting votes. Deliberately avoid “another story, according to Grafica, Harris and other Democrats”[ing] The public must be held accountable by setting moral standards. ”

The move sought to list a left-wing audience, and then attempted to present articles that attacked the character and policy positions of Biden and Harris, as one of the graphics said [Internet Research Agency’s] An attempt to reduce support for then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by infiltrating and influencing a progressive audience. “

This report supports the top intelligence official in the United States Said last month Russia is spreading the word on social media and Russian television before the November election.