Facebook Follies of Friends and Families

[The Minsky Moment]

It doesn't help that the Dear Leader can't shut up about her.

[viper37]

Are the Republicans in favor of any of those things?

Donald can't stop thinking about it.

[viper37]

The Russian meme trolls producing and distributing this division fomenting content have done an impressive job.  Right-wingers who gobble it up, agreeing with the messages, have their biases confirmed while everyone else gets to laugh at those right-wing nuts for how ridiculous they are and have their own biases confirmed. 

Well, tbh, the Russian meme trolls are also producing left-wing aimed content.

[viper37]

I don't know why exactly, but it is true.

maybe because she is a woman who stands (well, stood) a chance of becoming President, and as such, she is a prime target to discourage others of trying it?  It was bad enough that a black men became President, what would happen to the World if a woman were to become President?  I think the only thing worst would be a black woman...

[Eddie Teach]

Has Canada had a woman?

[Tamas]

It would do good for everyone if we admitted 99 percent of online shit is made by regular citizens and not some Russian IT guy.

[Grey Fox]

Has Canada had a woman?

For ~4 months. She wasn't elected.

[DGuller]

It would do good for everyone if we admitted 99 percent of online shit is made by regular citizens and not some Russian IT guy.

Yes, yes it would. 

[viper37]

Has Canada had a woman?

Kim Campbell, for 9 months.
lots of women at the provincial level too.

[Malthus]

Has Canada had a woman?

We did - with a famously saucy photo as well!

https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/kim-campbell-qc/

[Razgovory]

Has Canada had a woman?

I would hate to think that Canada is an incel.

[The Brain]

Has Canada had a woman?

I would hate to think that Canada is an incel.

Have you seen the Canadian politics thread?

[crazy canuck]

Has Canada had a woman?

I would hate to think that Canada is an incel.

[Eddie Teach]

Hey, wasn't that incel revolution guy from Toronto? 

[frunk]

I wouldn't normally post a Rolling Stone Article, but, well, it's worth a read.  It's based on a two year study of online propaganda that is unfortunately paywalled.

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It

On August 22, 2019, @IamTyraJackson received almost 290,000 likes on Twitter for a single tweet. Put in perspective, the typical tweet President Trump sends to his 67 million followers gets about 100,000 likes. That viral tweet by @IamTyraJackson was innocent: an uplifting pair of images of former pro football player Warrick Dunn and a description of his inspiring charity work building houses for single mothers. For an anonymous account that had only existed for only a few months, "Tyra" knew her audience well. Warrick's former coach, Tony Dungy, retweeted it, as did the rapper and producer Chuck D. Hundreds of thousands of real users viewed Tyra's tweet and connected with its message. For "Tyra," however, inspiring messages like this were a tool for a very different purpose.

The purpose of the Tyra account, we believe, was not to spread heartwarming messages to Americans. Rather, the tweet about Warrick Dunn was really a Trojan horse to gain followers in a larger plan by a foreign adversary. We think this because we believe @IamTyraJackson was an account operated by the successors to Russia's Internet Research Agency (IRA). Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted the IRA for waging a massive information war during the 2016 U.S. election. Since then, the IRA seems to have been subsumed into Russia's Federal News Agency, but its work continues. In the case of @IamTyraJackson, the IRA's goal was two-fold: Grow an audience in part through heartwarming, inspiring messages, and use that following to spread messages promoting division, distrust, and doubt.

We've spent the past two years studying online disinformation and building a deep understanding of Russia's strategy, tactics, and impact. Working from data Twitter has publicly released, we've read Russian tweets until our eyes bled. Looking at a range of behavioral signals, we have begun to develop procedures to identify disinformation campaigns and have worked with Twitter to suspend accounts. In the process we've shared what we've learned with people making a difference, both in and out of government. We have experienced a range of emotions studying what the IRA has produced, from disgust at their overt racism to amusement at their sometimes self-reflective humor. Mostly, however, we've been impressed.

Professional trolls are good at their job. They have studied us. They understand how to harness our biases (and hashtags) for their own purposes. They know what pressure points to push and how best to drive us to distrust our neighbors. The professionals know you catch more flies with honey. They don't go to social media looking for a fight; they go looking for new best friends. And they have found them.

Disinformation operations aren't typically fake news or outright lies. Disinformation is most often simply spin. Spin is hard to spot and easy to believe, especially if you are already inclined to do so. While the rest of the world learned how to conduct a modern disinformation campaign from the Russians, it is from the world of public relations and advertising that the IRA learned their craft. To appreciate the influence and potential of Russian disinformation, we need to view them less as Boris and Natasha and more like Don Draper.

As good marketers, professional trolls manipulate our emotions subtly. In fall 2018, for example, a Russian account we identified called @PoliteMelanie re-crafted an old urban legend, tweeting: "My cousin is studying sociology in university. Last week she and her classmates polled over 1,000 conservative Christians. 'What would you do if you discovered that your child was a homo sapiens?' 55% said they would disown them and force them to leave their home." This tweet, which suggested conservative Christians are not only homophobic but also ignorant, was subtle enough to not feel overtly hateful, but was also aimed directly at multiple cultural stress points, driving a wedge at the point where religiosity and ideology meet. The tweet was also wildly successful, receiving more than 90,000 retweets and nearly 300,000 likes.

This tweet didn't seek to anger conservative Christians or to provoke Trump supporters. She wasn't even talking to them. Melanie's 20,000 followers, painstakingly built, weren't from #MAGA America (Russia has other accounts targeting them). Rather, Melanie's audience was made up of educated, urban, left-wing Americans harboring a touch of self-righteousness. She wasn't selling her audience a candidate or a position — she was selling an emotion. Melanie was selling disgust. The Russians know that, in political warfare, disgust is a more powerful tool than anger. Anger drives people to the polls; disgust drives countries apart.

Accounts like @IamTyraJackson have continued @PoliteMelanie's work. Professional disinformation isn't spread by the account you disagree with — quite the opposite. Effective disinformation is embedded in an account you agree with. The professionals don't push you away, they pull you toward them. While tweeting uplifting messages about Warrick Dunn's real-life charity work, Tyra, and several accounts we associated with her, also distributed messages consistent with past Russian disinformation. Importantly, they highlighted issues of race and gender inequality. A tweet about Brock Turner's Stanford rape case received 15,000 likes. Another about police targeting black citizens in Las Vegas was liked more than 100,000 times. Here is what makes disinformation so difficult to discuss: while these tweets point to valid issues of concern — issues that have been central to important social movements like Black Lives Matter and #MeToo — they are framed to serve Russia's interests in undermining Americans' trust in our institutions.