Posted on 03/20/2017 8:23:45 PM PDT by TigerClaws
Federal investigators are examining whether far-right news sites played any role last year in a Russian cyber operation that dramatically widened the reach of news stories — some fictional — that favored Donald Trump’s presidential bid, two people familiar with the inquiry say.
Operatives for Russia appear to have strategically timed the computer commands, known as “bots,” to blitz social media with links to the pro-Trump stories at times when the billionaire businessman was on the defensive in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton, these sources said. Russian President Vladimir Putin is accused by the FBI of ordering a campaign intended to influence the U.S. election. Mikhail Klimentyev AP
The bots’ end products were largely millions of Twitter and Facebook posts carrying links to stories on conservative internet sites such as Breitbart News and InfoWars, as well as on the Kremlin-backed RT News and Sputnik News, the sources said. Some of the stories were false or mixed fact and fiction, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the bot attacks are part of an FBI-led investigation into a multifaceted Russian operation to influence last year’s elections.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
Searches on Google were skewered for the Dems - who let them pay zero in taxes.
The FBI is using taxpayer research to investigate who? Fox News? They weren't Trump fans.
Free Republic?
Trump was ridiculed mercilessly when he said he might question the election results. Now the MSM is questioning the results and the First Amendment.
They have really lost their minds.
Twitter would kill any pro-Trump tweet from trending.
Facebook deep sixed stories that were pro-Trump and highlighted Trump bashing.
Any of that worthy of investigation?
So no inquiry of Saudi or Muslim brotherhood influence with the Clinton Foundation? FBI is such a joke.
Thanks. Didn’t spot it.
Moderator — pull the thread. Already posted.
Time-Lies-Warner-Turner-CNN should be charged with rigging the election with rigged debates.
They’re actually claiming that Russian bots worked with Info wars and Breitbart etc to push pro Trump stories which didn’t allow voters to read all the great anti Trump stories at CNN HuffPo Buzzfeed etc.
These people have gone totally insane.
This blows me away:
“This may be one of the most highly impactful information operations in the history of intelligence,” said one former U.S. intelligence official
Pure horse pucky. Total nonsense. Hell 50% of twitter is phony crap. Most of it Leftist. Paid Leftists.
These people have gone totally insane.
Yep. Never thought I would see a Democratic Party red scare. But here we are.
Agree.
This is aimed squarely at the Chans and to a lesser extent The_Donald.
You can’t have a red scare without the red. They might as well be freaking out about campaigns having contact with Luxembourg. The whole thing is retarded.
I think the FBI’s budget is way too big if it can continue to investigate garbage like this. I think firing Comey would be a good place to start...
Still no plans to “probe” any FAR-LEFT sites though, huh? I don’t blame them. They’d probably pick up some bad STDs.
Everybody thought Hildabeast was going to win. No way Putin actively campaigned against her and risked the near certain wrath of a POTUS. Putin is a poop stirrer. He likes to keep his adversaries occupied and off balance. At most that is what went on. He wasn’t campaigning for Trump. LOL.
“. . . two people familiar with the inquiry say.”
The fake news leaks are back.
If Free Republic did not make the list I feel cheated!
Are these the same folks that told the New York Times that Trump was wiretapped?
This is getting really wacky, and it’s obvious the FBI plans to keep this going through 2018 and 2020. Now pro Trump internet stories are being treated as part of a Russian plot and so we are going to have those stories suppressed in the next election?
No, Putin loathed Hillary because she and Obozo tried to remove Assad with Al Qaeda and ISIS elements for 6 years.
No, Assad is not a good man. But what they wanted to replace him with was hideous
And they took Saudi money to do it.
So far, Trump is focused on ending ISIS and it will be done.
Will Putin help? I think he has and will. Yes he did focus more on the CIA’s insane collection of jihadists.
Using tax dollars to instigate a partisan witch-hunt.
No wonder the fake news media is cheering from the rafters.
Over a nothing-burger.
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