Fans of Sean Hannity, Black Lives Matter among targets of Russian influence campaign

Source: NBC News | May 10, 2018 | Brandy Zadrozny, Ben Popken, Ben Collins and Andrew W. Lehren

The ads highlight how Russia’s efforts focused on divisive cultural issues

Russian propaganda efforts used ads on Facebook and Instagram to push divisive messages to fans of a variety of pages including Black Lives Matter and Fox News host Sean Hannity, according to a new batch of sponsored posts released on Thursday.

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee just released thousands of divisive ads created by the Internet Research Agency, the Kremlin-backed organization that targeted American voters on Facebook and Instagram around the 2016 presidential election.

Facebook, which also owns Instagram, received nearly $100,000 from the Russia-funded troll farm to run the 3,000 ads from 2015 to 2017, according to an NBC News analysis of the release.

The ads provide a deeper understanding of Russia’s use of social media to spread propaganda on divisive topics, which included pushing anti-immigrant messages to fans of specific Fox News personalities such as Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly, and buying batches of ads immediately after a mass shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Some of the most divisive ads capitalized on the political movement Black Lives Matter and hot button political issues including immigration, gun control, the religion of Islam, and LGBT-centric topics. The ads also promoted events organized by Americans who were unaware their political rallies and protests were being fueled by a Russian disinformation campaign.

………

Tagged: , , , ,

Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.