Posted on 02/19/2018 9:08:48 AM PST by BBell
Twelve months before the U.S. presidential election, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jarred Prier got a taste of Russia’s covert efforts in American political affairs without recognizing the flavor.
It was November 11, 2015. Prier was in Washington browsing Twitter for news about his alma mater, the University of Missouri, where racial protesters had just succeeded in ousting the university system’s president.
#PrayForMizzou was trending. Backlash against the protesters had escalated fears of violence on campus. Intrigued, Prier began pouring over tweets supportive of Mizzou protesters.
Activists on the ground were sharing minute-by-minute updates of campus, where encamped protesters had claimed the university’s quad as their headquarters.
Still other Twitter users, veiled by pseudonyms, claimed Mizzou’s campus was in the midst of a violent street war.
“The cops are marching with the KKK!” wrote @FanFan1911. “They beat up my little brother! Watch out!” The tweet included a photo of bruised black child, ostensibly the Twitter user’s younger brother.
Like many other alarmist Mizzou-related tweets that day, it appeared to have been widely shared.
The only problem, Prier quickly determined: The photo had been lifted from 2013 news reports of alleged police brutality in Ohio.
He suspected the heightened notice the tweet drew was no accident. In addition to well-meaning users who shared it, the tweet had beIn an act of one-off online vigilantism, Prier fired back at @FanFan1911: “[S]top spreading lies.”
It didn’t work.
Mizzou was not embroiled in chaotic street-by-street fighting, but these outwardly authentic social media hoaxes scored an apparent win: goading Mizzou’s student body president into tweeting that the Ku Klux Klan was on campus.en boosted by dozens of apparently fake accounts.
The alleged Russian and Islamic State-sponsored psychological operations that targeted social media users in the U.S., including those related to Mizzou protests, are detailed by Prier in Strategic
(Excerpt) Read more at thecollegefix.com ...
And so in the opposite extreme are those who believe all the shooting massacres are fake even up to identifying “survivor actors” at multiple shootings and when the shooter is alone, there are supposedly second shooters. So, I suggest reading the news and before making a judgment, pretend you live in Russia and learn to discern. Plus wait a week or two and see if the truth comes out. Or, as in the case of the Russia investigation, years.
Most will not get the reference. Joey is laughing.
Intrigued, Prier began pouring over tweets
.
PING.
Pepsionice wrote:
“Most people assume that Charlottesville was mostly all Soros-funded. - Because of confusion factors there, I would suggest at least a second major group existed, and had no connection to Soros. It would be amusing if someone dug into the various groups and came to a mystery group which led back to the Russians.”
......................................................................
From Anonymous:
“Article about Russian online bots in social media inventing hoaxes, sowing distrust, and purposely inflaming both sides of an issue with intent to create confusion and excitement.
“The alleged Russian and Islamic State-sponsored psychological operations that targeted social media users in the U.S., including those related to Mizzou protests, are detailed by Prier in Strategic Studies Quarterly’s most recent issue, which flew under the radar until this week.”
“Now director of operations for the 20th Bomb Squadron, Prier had studied the social media habits of the Islamic State as part of his Air Force fellowship at Georgetown University.”
“In October 2016 he (Prier)“had to submit a topic” for his thesis, and thought his unofficial research into the disinformation campaign would be a good project, Prier told The Fix.
“That’s when his Air Force fellowship work of identifying the culprits began in earnest.”
“Priors thesis title:
“How Russia ‘hijacked’ the 2015 University of Missouri racial protests to spread misinformation” by The College Fix on Scribd.
“The thesis and an analysis of disinformation, or a handbook on how its done; article is located at:
https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/42075/
“Shows an analysis of disinformation, or handbook on how it’s done.”
Thanks, anonymous.
IOW, the left will now say Russian interference is okay, and "leave Hillary alone!"
The only problem, Prier quickly determined: The photo had been lifted from 2013 news reports of alleged police brutality in Ohio.
Russian and Islamic State-sponsored psychological operations that targeted social media users in the U.S., including those related to Mizzou protests, are detailed by Prier in Strategic...
This is 'community organizing' in a tech world...
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