Russian meddling in 2016 US presidential election.

               A current Russian leader has used fake news to get what he wants: Vladimir Putin. There is a Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) with a Department of Provocations whose mission states: “how do we create news items to achieve our goals”. Putin’s personal chef, who spent nine years in prison for fraud and robbery before being hired by the Kremlin, is said to be the main investor in the Russian IRA. The chef, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is the owner of Concord Management and Consulting and has been investigated by the US Treasury Department several times (Lardieri, 2017). The fact that there is a Department that creates news stories based on the Kremlin’s needs and desires is proof in of itself that fake news is a tool used by the Russian government. It is essentially a tool of Russian propaganda. Today, however, this propaganda can be spread quickly all over the world with Internet and social media. Russia’s propaganda machinery is increasingly sophisticated and powerful. It includes thousands of botnets, human “trolls” and networks of websites and social media accounts (Lardieri, 2017).

                During the 2016 US presidential election and campaigns, Russian hackers and trolls created fake American Facebook and Twitter accounts to try to influence the election in Trump’s favor (Shane, 2017). A fake Facebook account was created which portrayed an American man in its picture (stolen from a Brazilian’s man account), named Melvin Redick who claimed to be from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. On June 8^th 2016, the account posted “these guys show hidden truths about Hillary Clinton, George Soros and other leaders of the US. Visit #DCLeaks website. It’s really interesting!” This was one of the first public signs that there was foreign intervention in American elections and democracy (Shane, 2017).

                Cybersecurity firms are trying to figure out what mechanisms these Russian hackers used on Facebook and Twitter to spread anti-Clinton messages. Even the New York Times is leading an investigation on the subject. Both Facebook and Twitter said they are trying to prevent what happened in the 2016 US presidential race from happening in upcoming elections. Facebook says it takes down a million accounts per day including ones that posted about French and German elections. However, according to former FBI agent Clinton Watts, Twitter has not done much in way of preventing fake accounts and fake hashtag trends and as a result “bots have only spread since the election” (Shane, 2017). 

                                                                   WORKS CITED

Lardieri, A. (2017, October 18). Putin’s Chef Suspected of Funding Fake News Operation. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-10-18/putins-chef-suspected-of-funding-fake-news-operation

Shane, S. (2017, September 07). The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/us/politics/russia-facebook-twitter-election.html?_r=0

Timberg, C. (2016, November 25). Russian propaganda helped spread 'fake news' during Donald Trump's election victory, say experts. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/russia-putin-fake-news-rt-donald-trump-president-facebook-a7438331.html