Twitter doesn’t make it easy to track Russian propaganda efforts — this database can help
NBC News is publishing its database of more than 200,000 tweets that Twitter has tied to “malicious activity” from Russia-linked accounts during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
These accounts, working in concert as part of large networks, pushed hundreds of thousands of inflammatory tweets, from fictitious tales of Democrats practicing witchcraft to hardline posts from users masquerading as Black Lives Matter activists. Investigators have traced the accounts to a Kremlin-linked propaganda outfit founded in 2013 known as the Internet Research Association (IRA). The organization has been assessed by the U.S. Intelligence Community to be part of a Russian state-run effort to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential race. And they’re not done.
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At the request of NBC News, three sources familiar with Twitter’s data systems cross-referenced the partial list of names released by Congress to create a partial database of tweets that could be recovered. The sources asked to remain anonymous to avoid any politicization of their work or being identified as possibly violating Twitter’s developer policy.
NBC News has already used the data to expose how Russian accounts impersonated everyday Americans and drew hundreds of millions of followers, exploiting terrorist attacks, the debates and other breaking news events. Our investigations revealed how the accounts pushed graphic, racist and conspiracy theory-filled disinformation, while flattering, arguing and cajoling more than 40 U.S. politicians, media figures and celebrities into interacting with and amplifying their propaganda.
Despite Twitter’s pledges to crack down, Russian trolls and bots are still exploiting the social media platform to interfere with elections, including our midterms. To help shine a light on this persistent threat to democracy, NBC News is open sourcing its data.
If you publish using the data, please credit NBC News and include a link to this page. Send questions to [email protected].
Get the data:
– Download tweets.csv and users.csv
– View data for ten influential accounts in Google Sheets
– Explore a graph database in Neo4j
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- Discussion
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Russian trolls and bots are still exploiting the social media platform to interfere with elections, including the 2018 midterms. To help shine a light on this persistent threat to democracy, @NBCNews is open sourcing its data. https://t.co/PCcjzvm4xb
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 14, 2018
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