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 8th 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
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
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
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