Americans Use Russian Playbook to Spread Disinformation

New York Times: “In 2016, before the presidential election, state-backed Russian operatives exploited Facebook and Twitter to sway voters in the United States with divisive messages. Now, weeks before from the midterm elections on Nov. 6, such influence campaigns are increasingly a domestic phenomenon fomented by Americans on the left and the right.”

“Politics has always involved shadings of the truth via whisper campaigns, direct-mail operations and negative ads bordering on untrue. What is different this time is how domestic sites are directly emulating the Russian playbook of 2016 by aggressively creating networks of Facebook pages and accounts — many of them fake — that make it appear as if the ideas they are promoting enjoy widespread popularity, researchers said. The activity is also happening on Twitter.”

Washington Post: “Facebook said on Thursday it has purged more than 800 U.S publishers and accounts for flooding users with politically-oriented content that violated the company’s spam policies, a move that could reignite accusations of political censorship.”