Posted on 06/10/2017 5:43:02 PM PDT by canalabamian
A GOP donor who once had ties to IBM is the man behind the millions of Twitter bots President Trump counts on as followers who could be employed to target voters with misleading or fake news on social media.
In order for it to work, the scheme relies on the quiet guidance of Robert Mercer, a reclusive Republican mega-donor and staunch Trump supporter, sources told the Daily News.
Mercer, who during the campaign with help from his daughter Rebekah, played a below-the-radar but integral role in raising money for Trump and connected him with critical figures like Stephen Bannon.
Hes a former computer scientist who, decades ago, helped build the technology at IBM that the computer giant would later use to create its Watson super-computer. He also helped other companies like Apple form the basis for its Siri platform.
Trump, meanwhile, has accrued among his 30 million Twitter followers 15 million of which are actually bots that experts have told the Daily News could be weaponized to spread fake and misleading news stories that favor the White House or distract from the scandals it now faces.
But with the subtle introduction of advanced technology, by individuals familiar with artificial intelligence, their effectiveness as it pertains to targeting users and interacting with them could escalate rapidly.
Fooling humans into doing things in the electronic realm turned out to be really easy, said Simon Crosby, the chief technology officer at a firm called Bromium, pointing to well-documented campaigns that are thought to have influenced the 2016 presidential race and the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom.
But with a few extra steps that seem available in the right circles, it could get even easier, he added.
Mike Cernovich is driving the social media news, not Mercer.
Are they calling me a bot?
As opposed to the army of Soros-bots (aka the lamestream media) spewing fake news to take down the American republic.
There is no way Trump has that many fake Twitter followers, because he won a national election with little advertising broadcast to the general population. Twitter was his main vehicle for communicating with people.
I dunno. They posted a screen shot of all nine of them in the article. /s
i don’t bother reading any of the fabricated “news” in the NYDN, because everything they publish is fabricated. The NYDN is nothing put a a Demo/Progressive/Kommie propaganda rag. People would be substantially more informed if they read the National Enquirer instead.
>Mercer was originally a huge backer of Ted Cruz.
Mercer was behind Trump’s big data targeted ad campaign on face book. It was a huge success that the media never even knew about until after Trump won.
What happened to Russian interference? It seems as if the Leftists are trying to define any effort on Trump’s behalf as sinister. They just can’t understand that the average American agrees with Trump.
Mercer has been backing conservative causes for years. Him working with Trump is a good thing.
This right here. This is why journalists are seen as trustworthy as terrorists and child rapists.
Hogwash. Prove it.
Him working with Trump is a good thing.Never said it wasn't. But before he backed Trump he was an anti-Trumper backing Ted Cruz through Glenn Beck.
Mercer has a long history of supporting conservative causes. He’s good.
This is fake news, its the democrats who use a bot army. They pay ShareBlue(aka shariablue) to astroturf for them. This means create the false impression of grassroots support. Trump doesn’t need to fake this. He has more grassroots support than any politician in the world.
You think this might be a call for someone with money to waste it on a bunch of bots rather than a complaint about copycats?
My point was how disingenuous the article is. Google analytics and astroturf were pioneered by dems. They are and have been most deeply connected to, and supported by tech companies and Silicon Valley.
So it wasn’t the Russians. It was Skynet. /S
Dumb knee jerk reply, this has nothing to do with your post. It was on my screen as my mind wandered around looking vainly for an idea, forgive me.
No worries! I know the feeling.
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