This is really important stuff, I think. The FBI is investigating whether far-right news sites played any role in a Russian cyber-operation intended to send out bots and trolls intended to flood social media with carefully timed “news” intended to fog Democratic messages, such as Bernie Sanders’ attempts to state the urgency of Democrats and other progressives defeating Trump. It was comprised of millions of Twitter and Facebook posts carrying hard-right stories from places such as Breitbart and NewsMax. Maddow is doing a detailed story on this, including an interview with the McClatchy reporter Greg Gordon. Gordon says he is stunned both by the impact of this relatively new aspect of Russian cyber-attacks, and the potential role of pro-Trump news organizations. Maddow talked about how this cyber “noise” appeared to be successful in crowding out real pro-Clinton on-line messages.
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.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article139695453.html#storylink=cpy