Politics
How Unwitting Americans Encountered Russian Operatives Online
They
were politically active Americans scattered around the country,
dedicating their spare time to the 2016 presidential campaign or various
causes. And the seeming fellow activists who called them to rallies via
Facebook, or joined in the free-for-all on Twitter, appeared
unremarkable.
Except that their English sometimes seemed a little odd.
“We
are looking for friendship because we are fighting for the same
reasons,” someone purporting to be with an online group calling itself
Blacktivist wrote via Twitter to the Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III, a
Baltimore pastor, in April 2016. “Actually we are open for your thoughts
and offers.”
In
late October 2016, in Nederland, Tex., the Texas Nationalist Movement
got a Facebook message from someone representing a group called Heart of
Texas, which planned to organize rallies in favor of Texas secession on
the eve of the election. But on a follow-up call, “something was off,”
said Daniel Miller, the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement.
Despite
their wariness, neither Dr. Brown nor Mr. Miller had any inkling of
what was really behind those odd encounters. Heart of Texas and
Blacktivist were phony groups, part of a sweeping Russian disinformation
campaign that was funded with millions of dollars and carried out by 80
people operating out of St. Petersburg, Russia.
The
Russian attempt at long-distance choreography was playing out in many
cities across the United States. Facebook has disclosed that about 130
rallies were promoted by 13 of the Russian pages, which reached 126
million Americans with provocative content on race, guns, immigration
and other volatile issues.
Graphic
The Propaganda Tools Used by Russians to Influence the 2016 Election
Thirteen Russian nationals have been charged with
illegally trying to disrupt the American political process through
inflammatory social media posts and organized political rallies.
An indictment
filed in court on Friday by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel
investigating Russian interference in the election, laid out for the
first time, in riveting detail, how Russia carried out its campaign on
social media. And while the indictment did not suggest any involvement
by President Trump or his associates, it did say many Americans engaged
with the Russian trolls without knowing who or where they really were.
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“Some
defendants, posing as U.S. persons and without revealing their Russian
association, communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the
Trump campaign and with other political activists to seek to coordinate
political activities,” the indictment said. Among others, it said, the
Russians contacted “a real U.S. person affiliated with a Texas-based
grass-roots organization,” who advised them to focus their efforts on
“purple states like Colorado, Virginia and Florida.”
The
indictment did not name the activist, but Mr. Miller said in an
interview that the mention had set off a slightly unnerving guessing
game in his state as to who the helpful Texan might be. It was not him,
he said.
“Every
organization in Texas that’s been politically involved over the last
few years is sort of eyeing the other ones,” said Mr. Miller, whose
group decided not to endorse the Heart of Texas rallies. “Mueller’s team
needs to clarify this.” (A spokesman for Mr. Mueller declined to
comment.)
Sometimes
the Russian efforts fell flat. Dr. Brown had challenged Blacktivist on
Twitter because it seemed to be an out-of-town group, yet it was calling
for a Baltimore rally to mark the anniversary of the death of Freddie Gray, who sustained a fatal injury while in police custody. The pastor had no idea just how far out of town.
“The
way you’re going about this is deeply offensive to those of us who are
from Baltimore and have been organizing here all our lives,” Dr. Brown
wrote to the stranger.
Seemingly chastened, Blacktivist replied, “This must be really wrong. I feel ashamed.”
The pastor replied: “Post a public apology. Cancel the event and take your cues from those working locally.
The
Heart of Texas group had more success with a Houston rally to “Stop the
Islamization of Texas,” which provoked an angry confrontation in May
2016. United Muslims of America, another Russian creation, called its
own rally to “Save Islamic Knowledge” for the same time and place,
outside the Islamic Da’wah Center.
A
dozen people who turned out for the first event, some carrying rifles,
Confederate flags and a banner saying “White Lives Matter,” faced off
across a street with a far larger crowd of counterprotesters. The police
kept the crowds apart, and there was no trouble at the event, which was
caught on video.
Later,
on social media, some puzzled participants complained that no one from
Heart of Texas, which had about 250,000 likes on Facebook, had shown up
for the group’s own rally.
But the online pitches reached a big audience. In written answers
to questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee, Facebook said some
338,300 people saw the announcements of rallies promoted by the bogus
pages — and 62,500 said they planned to attend one. Those numbers are
modest against the background of the entire presidential campaign, but
they show that the Russians were able not just to attract Americans to
their ersatz groups but actually manipulate their actions.
“The
fact that they got people to show up at real-world events is
impressive,” said Renee DiResta, the head of policy at Data for
Democracy, a nonprofit that has studied the Russian activity. “What we
have is an engine for reaching people and growing an audience, which is
fantastic. But this shows that it can be used for very shady purposes.”
How Do Russian Bots Work?
How do bots and trolls work to
infiltrate social media platforms and influence U.S. elections? We take a
closer look at these insidious online pests to explain how they work.
By NATALIA V. OSIPOVA and AARON BYRD on Publish Date October 31, 2017.
Photo by Aaron Byrd/The New York Times.
Watch in Times Video »
Facebook’s vice president for advertising, Rob Goldman, said on Twitter
on Friday, “I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very
definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal” — a
statement that President Trump retweeted.
But
Mr. Mueller’s indictment repeatedly states that the Russian operation
was designed not just to provoke division among Americans but also to
denigrate Hillary Clinton and support her rivals, mainly Mr. Trump. The
hashtags the Russian operation used included #Trump2016, #TrumpTrain,
#MAGA and #Hillary4Prison, and one Russian operative was reprimanded for
“a low number of posts dedicated to criticizing Hillary Clinton,” the
indictment says.
A glance at the Russian posts
supports the idea that they focus on candidates. Heart of Texas ran an
unflattering portrait of Mrs. Clinton with the tag “Pure Evil”; posted a
fake photo of her shaking hands with Osama bin Laden; and paired her
with Adolf Hitler as a supporter of gun control. Mr. Trump was shown
surrounded by police officers wearing Trump hats and grinning outside a
fake cage with Mrs. Clinton inside.
While most of the Americans duped by the Russian trolls were not public figures, some higher-profile people were fooled.
The indictment mentions the Russian Twitter feed @TEN_GOP, which posed
as a Tennessee Republican account and attracted more than 100,000
followers. It was retweeted by Donald Trump Jr.; Kellyanne Conway, the
president’s counselor; Michael T. Flynn, the former national security
adviser; and his son, Michael Flynn Jr.
They
have expressed no regret that they were apparently taken in by the
Russian operatives. Instead, since Friday’s indictment, Donald Trump
Jr., like his father, has pointed mainly to the fact that it did not
accuse the president or his associates of assisting the Russian
operation.
Jeremy Bowers contributed research.
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