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Facebook Has Identified Ongoing Political Influence Campaign (nytimes.com) 263

Facebook is preparing to announce that it has identified a coordinated political influence campaign, with dozens of inauthentic accounts and pages that are believed to be engaging in political activity ahead of November's midterm elections, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing three people briefed on the matter. From the report: In a series of briefings on Capitol Hill this week, the company told lawmakers that it detected the influence campaign as part of its investigations into election interference. It has been unable to tie the accounts to Russia, whose Internet Research Agency was at the center of an indictment earlier this year for interfering in the 2016 election, but company officials told Capitol Hill that Russia was possibly involved, according to two of the officials. Facebook is expected to announce its findings on Tuesday afternoon. The company has been working with the F.B.I. to investigate the activity. Like the Russian interference campaign in 2016, the recently detected campaign dealt with divisive social issues. Update: Facebook has confirmed the story, adding: Today we removed 32 Pages and accounts from Facebook and Instagram because they were involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior. This kind of behavior is not allowed on Facebook because we don't want people or organizations creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they are, or what they're doing. We're still in the very early stages of our investigation and don't have all the facts -- including who may be behind this. But we are sharing what we know today given the connection between these bad actors and protests that are planned in Washington next week. We will update this post with more details when we have them, or if the facts we have change. It's clear that whoever set up these accounts went to much greater lengths to obscure their true identities than the Russian-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) has in the past. We believe this could be partly due to changes we've made over the last year to make this kind of abuse much harder.
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Facebook Has Identified Ongoing Political Influence Campaign

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  • by OakDragon ( 885217 ) on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @11:29AM (#57042008) Journal
    Don't be surprised if it turns out the DNC and GOP are behind this election interference!
    • by syn3rg ( 530741 )
      I actually chuckled, well played.
    • For Fuck's Sake, can people even read the summary. The reason these people are being dinged isn't because of election interference (well, except that's why FB cared), but because of fraud. Because people set up groups that sounded like they were affiliated with the DNC, or the GOP, or the NRA, or Black Lives Matter, and are causing havoc that way.

      • How is this new? Both sides have sock puppets purportedly on the other side, whose only purpose is to make their opponent look fucking stupid.

        That's right. Rosie O'donnell works for the Republicans. Nobody is actually that stupid. Bill O'reilly, same but opposite. Rachel Maddow, Young Turks, all the same story. Scratch a moron, find a sock puppet.

  • SocialmediaSecurityAgency needs to be formed up mandated by congress. I am sure it will just as effective as TSA.

  • So if Facebook finds an American firm working on Brexit or the CIA trying to spread disinformation in Egypt, are we going to get a headline when Facebook uncovers it?

    • American firm, or do you mean American government? Because evidence is showing that the Russian *government* is attempting to influence elections around the world, not just Russian firms. Certainly the US has been involved in covertly trying to influence elections - in the past. Today the US influences elections publicly. Nevertheless, having the US being underhanded at some point does not imply that we should welcome election interference from a foreign dictatorship with open arms or try to deny that i

    • It's clear that whoever set up these accounts went to much greater lengths to obscure their true identities than the Russian-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) has in the past. We believe this could be partly due to changes we've made over the last year to make this kind of abuse much harder.

      Also known as an arms race.

  • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @12:20PM (#57042518)

    I wondered, why is it that the summary mentions not just what kinds of false organizations were present that had to be removed?

    Following the story link you can see for yourself:

    "Aztlan Warriors", "Black Elevation", "Mindful Being", and "Resisters."

    Huh! That's odd, not one of those groups represent Trump or Republicans in any way. Kind of funny that was not mentioned in the summary. I'm sure it was just an oversight.

    It makes you wonder if groups are going to all the trouble to create false fronts on Facebook, how many people you see at protests are really there because what they are protesting, or how many are there to be paid to stir up trouble - I have thought a lot of Antifa people are probably not really wanting to burn cars/buildings, but that there are selected individuals added to stir up the mob just to create chaos.

    • by jeff4747 ( 256583 ) on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @01:00PM (#57042924)

      Huh! That's odd, not one of those groups represent Trump or Republicans in any way.

      That's because the goal is to split the Democratic vote. Much like one of the main goals in the 2016 efforts was to hurt Democratic turnout.

      The people who are going to vote for Trump and allies are gonna vote. If they're still on board, they are REALLY on board. They are as excited as possible, so they do not need a program to boost their excitement. Fox News is sufficient to keep them going to the polls.

      It's the opposition that is more fickle in going to the polls, so you apply your efforts there. Get Trump-regret people to just stay home instead of voting for a Democrat. Get Democrats to be so upset at some DLC-ish candidates that they continue to stay home or vote third party. Warn DLC-ish Democrats about the horrors of Socialism coming from these crazy Millennial candidates so that they don't vote for the Democrat in their race. And so on.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by ScentCone ( 795499 )

        Much like one of the main goals in the 2016 efforts was to hurt Democratic turnout.

        No, the Russians, just like every major media outlet in the US, the DNC, the Clinton machine, and every other foreign government, were convinced that Clinton was going to win. Their main interest was in stirring the pot to keep her machinery off-balance, busy with domestic squabbling, and less able to arrive at a coherent policy position unpleasant for Russia. They knew that Clinton was in no way a creature of character, but of poll-based position taking. The better the chaos, the better for Russia. Of not

      • That's the dumbest spy-novel plot I've ever read.

        So let me see if I can parse this:
        1) if it was backing Trump, it would be proof of collusion and Russians gaming the system to gin up support for Trump
        2) since it's backing Democratic causes, it's somehow "splitting" the Democratic vote?

    • I wondered, why is it that the summary mentions not just what kinds of false organizations were present that had to be removed?

      Following the story link you can see for yourself:

      "Aztlan Warriors", "Black Elevation", "Mindful Being", and "Resisters."

      It is interesting so I actually looked into it. What they are doing is like before, setting up events so that opposing groups would appear at the same place. The obvious conclusion is that they are trying to create a violent political event to create even higher tensions in the US.

      Huh! That's odd, not one of those groups represent Trump or Republicans in any way.

      The point (in this case) isn't to promote one side or the other, it's to create violence.

      It makes you wonder if groups are going to all the trouble to create false fronts on Facebook, how many people you see at protests are really there because what they are protesting, or how many are there to be paid to stir up trouble

      Considering the Russians are in Russia, it would say it's very few. However, we do know of one Russian agent: Maria Butina [washingtonpost.com] who infiltrated

      • That Russian Agent ( Maria ) Has stronger ties to Oabma (met with his administration) than the NRA (basically did nothing with them).

        Make of that what you will... that and the fact that Obama did nothing about Russian interference despite being warned about a year in advance the Russians were trying to interfere.

        What you and others have overlooked is that Obama obviously worked with Trump and Russia to prevent Hillary from being elected. It also fits with Obama being a stronger supporter of Russian actions

        • That Russian Agent ( Maria ) Has stronger ties to Oabma (met with his administration) than the NRA (basically did nothing with them).

          The disinformation is strong with this one.

          Make of that what you will... that and the fact that Obama did nothing about Russian interference despite being warned about a year in advance the Russians were trying to interfere.

          Thanks disinformation guy but Obama actually did warn us but McConnell would only agree to a severely watered down warning. [washingtonpost.com]

          What you and others have overlooked is that Obama obviously worked with Trump and Russia to prevent Hillary from being elected.

          LOL! Where did you get that idea from, infowars?

          It also fits with Obama being a stronger supporter of Russian actions that Trump. Trump has actually double-crossed Russia, once he was elected Trump proceeded to act directly against Russian interests (just ask 200 dead Russian mercenaries in Syria).

          What you refuse to acknowledge is that Trump doesn't always agree with what the administration does. He's out of the loop on what actually happens because he refuses to even read basic information about what is happening.

    • Huh! That's odd, not one of those groups represent Trump or Republicans in any way.

      No shit, Sherlock—this only being the entire point of the exercise and all.

    • Outside influences into our elections, likely still from Russia, have one main goal: to foment chaos, discord, and divisiveness within the United States, which weakens us all AS AN ENTIRE NATION. If you had even half a brain you could see that.
      • Because while we're busy fighting amongst ourselves, we're barely paying attention to what our betters are doing in attempts to pass pro-globalist treaties such as the TPP, and laws that turn "fair use" into "fair pay". [euronews.com]

        That warm, wet feeling on your leg really isn't the Bilderberg elites pissing on you, with all the money that goes towards the NGOs and PACs that actually fuel the activist groups and astroturfing agencies that drive most of the chaos, discord and divisiveness. No, it's Russia making it ra

  • They got me.

  • Get them to fight each other and they won't care what leadership does.

  • ... Ongoing Political Stupidity By People Who Should Goddam Well Know Better.

  • We're still in the very early stages of our investigation and don't have all the facts -- including who may be behind this.

    It will be really fun if they discover it is the a US political party... or some internet tycoon... or an US security agency... or a foreign country considered as an ally...

  • Republicans will find it easy to find the same "possible collusion" between Democrats and agents of China - who now is as desperate to avoid Trump as the Russians were with Clinton - especially if they commission another dossier from a supplicating ally (looking at Australia).

    Agents of China buying 100k worth of US social media presence? Pocket change.

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