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Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say
Washington Post ^ | 11-24-16 | Craig Timburg

Posted on 11/24/2016 9:32:21 PM PST by bigbob

The flood of “fake news” this election season got support from a sophisticated Russian propaganda campaign that created and spread misleading articles online with the goal of punishing Democrat Hillary Clinton, helping Republican Donald Trump and undermining faith in American democracy, say independent researchers who tracked the operation.

Russia’s increasingly sophisticated propaganda machinery — including thousands of botnets, teams of paid human “trolls,” and networks of websites and social-media accounts — echoed and amplified right-wing sites across the Internet as they portrayed Clinton as a criminal hiding potentially fatal health problems and preparing to hand control of the nation to a shadowy cabal of global financiers. The effort also sought to heighten the appearance of international tensions and promote fear of looming hostilities with nuclear-armed Russia.

Two teams of independent researchers found that the Russians exploited American-made technology platforms to attack U.S. democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment, as an insurgent candidate harnessed a wide range of grievances to claim the White House. The sophistication of the Russian tactics may complicate efforts by Facebook and Google to crack down on “fake news,” as they have vowed to do after widespread complaints about the problem.

There is no way to know whether the Russian campaign proved decisive in electing Trump, but researchers portray it as part of a broadly effective strategy of sowing distrust in U.S. democracy and its leaders. The tactics included penetrating the computers of election officials in several states and releasing troves of hacked emails that embarrassed Clinton in the final months of her campaign.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: clinton; echochamber; fakenews; freerepublic; hillary; media; msm; news; russia; trump; trumpwins
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Still living in their little bubble, inventing theories to explain the reality of the Trump Movement...

Call it what you will, we can all be proud to have been a small part in defeating the Clintons and their propaganda machine and helping to make America great again.

1 posted on 11/24/2016 9:32:21 PM PST by bigbob
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To: bigbob
More like The Washington Post is spreading fake news with their Russia hysteria.
2 posted on 11/24/2016 9:33:29 PM PST by Trump20162020
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To: bigbob

There was no fake news.

The emails leaked were real.

Talk about fake news, talk about Soros paying protestors to be protestors. Talk about Soros doing exactly what they are accusing russia ofdoing.


3 posted on 11/24/2016 9:35:29 PM PST by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: bigbob

“Fake News” - the new rallying cry of the left. Pay attention, fellow Freepers...


4 posted on 11/24/2016 9:36:05 PM PST by QBFimi (It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world... Tarfon)
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To: bigbob

...The flood of “fake news” this election season got support from...
The liberal, biased, opinionated, anti Conservative, anti American tradition and values, anti Trump, lying fringe lunatic liberal media.


5 posted on 11/24/2016 9:36:11 PM PST by Sasparilla (I Am Not Tired Of Winning)
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To: bigbob
they portrayed Clinton as a criminal hiding potentially fatal health problems and preparing to hand control of the nation to a shadowy cabal of global financiers.

Did they also include some fake news?
6 posted on 11/24/2016 9:37:54 PM PST by VisualizeSmallerGovernment
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To: bigbob

Is the epression “fake news” something the LMSM invented on November 9th?


7 posted on 11/24/2016 9:38:16 PM PST by clearcarbon
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To: bigbob

As far as I’m concerned, the Mainstream media have been spewing fake news for years.


8 posted on 11/24/2016 9:38:29 PM PST by Unam Sanctam
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To: bigbob

The only paid trolls and disinformationists were working for Killery in an organization named Correct the Record.

This article is yet another example of SJWs...

Always Lie.
Always Project*.
Always Double-Down.

Projection, in this case for those who don’t know yet, is the act of accusing others of the bad acts that the accuser is actually and knowingly guilty of.


9 posted on 11/24/2016 9:38:31 PM PST by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: bigbob

We didn’t need the Russians to sow distrust in U.S. democracy and its leaders. Clinton et.al. did just fine on their own.


10 posted on 11/24/2016 9:41:08 PM PST by Excellence (Marine mom since April 11, 2014)
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To: bigbob

Russian...help?

They didn’t need any freakin’ help.

The RATagandists have been lying to the public for decades. They are the enemy of the American People.


11 posted on 11/24/2016 9:41:29 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (The fear of stark justice sends hot urine down their thighs)
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To: Secret Agent Man

THe media sees something that contradicts their worldview so therefore it must be fake. And since they can’t possibly report the thing itself because they think it’s fake, they run stories about the rise in fakeness. It’s some kind of alternative universe where everything is opposite what it really is.


12 posted on 11/24/2016 9:42:47 PM PST by bigbob (We have better coverage than Verizon - Can You Hear Us Now?)
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To: bigbob

NYT, WaPo, CNN, etc. = FAKE NEWS.

This is a tactic to justify censorship. Sorros funded and planned.

People aren’t falling for it.

Left wing loved Russia when they were invading and murdering tens of millions of people in the name of Communism.


13 posted on 11/24/2016 9:43:45 PM PST by TigerClaws
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To: bigbob

Dems never denied the emails.

They were upset they were being released because of what they showed. And freaked out waiting for which ones came out.

You don’t get freaked out about fake news/emails.


14 posted on 11/24/2016 9:45:17 PM PST by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: bigbob

This is the left’s attempt at discreting the news that came out about the Democrat Party and how it operates and the sick people associated with the party.

How brilliant, just claim it was fake news.


15 posted on 11/24/2016 9:45:55 PM PST by stockpirate (OBAMA MUST BE ON THE PAYROLL OF THE CLINTON FOUNDATION.)
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To: bigbob

16 posted on 11/24/2016 9:46:15 PM PST by chris37 (It's time to burn the GOP down.)
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To: bigbob
The flood of “fake news” this election season got support from a sophisticated Russian propaganda campaign that created and spread misleading articles online with the goal of punishing Democrat Hillary Clinton, helping Republican Donald Trump and undermining faith in American democracy, say independent researchers who tracked the operation DNC shills.

Fixed.

17 posted on 11/24/2016 9:49:22 PM PST by Repeal 16-17 (Let me know when the Shooting starts.)
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To: bigbob
... echoed and amplified right-wing sites across the Internet as they portrayed Clinton as a criminal hiding potentially fatal health problems...

* We've known that Hillary was a criminal since the 90's.
* All those videos of Hillary coughing and collapsing were made by Russians. Really?

18 posted on 11/24/2016 9:49:45 PM PST by Rightwing Conspiratr1
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To: Secret Agent Man

Great point, I’ve noticed too that they’ve never come out and said hey, Podesta never said that, someone hacked him, etc. Of course even the technoidiots of the left probably are aware that Wikileaks verified that all the emails were valid. They just say “Russians hacked our election” when in fact intelligence people who are patriots in various US government agencies have admitted they leaked the information to Wikileaks. Nearly all these people are lawyers - if there was fraud, fakery, libel, etc involved you know they’ve be papering everyone within sight.


19 posted on 11/24/2016 9:50:23 PM PST by bigbob (We have better coverage than Verizon - Can You Hear Us Now?)
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To: bigbob

Wow! So brazen in their ignorance.


20 posted on 11/24/2016 9:50:31 PM PST by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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