New court documents reveal that Russia is keeping a very, very long list of influencers to spread its propaganda.
The Russian disinformation plot revealed in a Justice Department indictment this week may just be the tip of the iceberg, according to newly unsealed court documents.
On Wednesday, the DOJ announced it would seize 32 internet domains linked to a larger Kremlin scheme to promote disinformation and influence the 2024 election. The Russian campaign, known as Doppelganger, uses AI-generated content to create “fake news” boosted through social media with the aim of electing Donald Trump.
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Of particular note, the documents released Wednesday included an affidavit that noted a Russian company is keeping a list of more than 2,800 influencers world wide, about one-fifth of whom are based in the United States, to monitor and potentially groom to spread Russian propaganda. The affidavit does not mention the full list of influencers, but is still a terrifying indicator of how deep the Russian plot to interfere in U.S. politics really goes.
The affidavit does not mention the full list of influencers, but is still a terrifying indicator of how deep the Russian plot to interfere in U.S. politics really goes.
Well, why not? Name and shame all of them. Normal political ads are required to tell you who paid for them (even if they only do it in the fine print). There’s no reason not to hold these schmucks to the same standard just because it’s TikTok vids or whatever instead of magazine or TV ads.
Not a lawoligist, but I suspect they plan on pressing charges ;-)
This is a list of people “to monitor and potentially groom”. You can’t exactly charge someone with “being monitored”.
Not to say collaboration isn’t happening—it sounds like it absolutely is, but this is not the list of collaborators.
Fair point. In my defense I hit a paywall and just kind of gave up, did a bit of assuming there 😅
Guaranteed they are all over the Fediverse and probably hosting their own instances.
There are a few obvious ones around but it’s against the rules to even suggest that they could be shills or bots. Hopefully this news will get the mods to start taking action against the most blatant ones.
I, for one, will not return to allowing that particular guy back on my feed.
That guy gets on my nerves, but I’ve read enough from him on various topics that I’m pretty confident he’s a genuine user. Don’t get me wrong, he’s for sure an ideologue who’s no fun at parties, but I don’t think he’s a bot or that he’s saying things he was instructed to say and doesn’t actually care deeply about.
There’s another user, with a three-word-phrase username, that I would describe similarly.
will get the mods to start taking action against the most blatant ones.
I’ve heard it from a reliable source, a Lemmy.ml mod, that there’s simply no Russian activity on Lemmy. Would you like to know who?
Wait, I think I know the instance you’re talking about but since when are we not allowed to say anything about it? Or do you just mean on .ml you can’t do that
In !politics@lemmy.world, for example, it is against the rules to accuse another user of being a bot or paid actor. Any post suggesting a user might be will likely be removed at the minimum.
Yes but… Fediverse has more moderators and even server level bans where we can fight back.
It’s a different political makeup here on the Fediverse. It’s not like the Russians can hand money to just one or two CEOs and suddenly all of the moderators we trust here turn to the other side.
We need to keep our wits about us here. We came to Lemmy (and Fediverse) because centralized commercial control of our discussion spaces led to perverse incentives.
I only consider this political situation to be yet another test of the Fediverse. We have to survive it. But I also believe we moved to the Fediverse because we all believe we can do more about disinformation or malicious actors here on the Fediverse than on… Reddit or Facebook.
Everyone that doesn’t agree with me politically basically
I’ve seen a lot of seriously obvious and unapologetic shilling for very out there positions around here. The further telltale sign is that when one popular poster starts getting regularly rebuffed and shutdown, backup arrives not long after to pollute a thread with their bullshit.
It’s a slippery slope to start assuming people are bots or paid shills. Whos to say everyone that agreed with you at first weren’t bots and then regular people came in and commented their own opinion that went against the first wave of bots?
Not everyone that thinks capitalism is broken is a paid Russian agent. I’m assuming that is what you are referring too. Some are very extreme in their views but the most likely explanation is that they are a combination of stupid and mad.
Not the green party or communist not jobs necessarily, but the Pro-Putin, “Ukraine is Nazis”, warmongering types…yup.
I’d argue they are still most likely just idiots that got wrapped up in foreign propaganda, and not necessarily paid to post on lemmy of all places.
I just think calling people bots and shills has no place in honest discourse and the brushstroke always tends to get bigger and bigger.
You didn’t read the article
Where in the article does it mention lemmy? As far as I am concerned, we do not have any influencers and we definitely won’t be on the list.
I’m just saying assuming people are bots is a bad habit. Why not just assume I’m a paid shills and disregard my points? See how easy it is and why it shouldn’t be encouraged?
Not everyone that thinks capitalism is broken is a paid Russian agent. I’m assuming that is what you are referring too.
Pretty sure they’re making veiled shill accusations at anyone who isn’t 100% on board with arming Netanyahu until his genocide is complete.
Where are my republican “there is no Russian influence in the election” now?
I don’t listen to the radio but my coworkers (school bus drivers) do so I overhear it from time to time. News reports keep mentioning “foreign interference in our elections” but scrupulously avoid mentioning a) it’s Russia, and b) it’s Russia interfering on behalf of Trump and the Republicans. Even fucking NPR is like this, most of the time. It should be obvious that any Republicans hearing this sort of “news” will believe it’s a problem afflicting Democrats.
They will never hear about this in a non-obfuscated way
Cool, so just how many wars is Russia trying to fight at the moment?
I’d like to see that list.
Alongside the list of influencers US is paying to spread its propaganda.
4/5 are outside the US, does that mean most are in the EU?
Yes, even goverments. For example orban in #orbanistan (hungary), fico in slovakia controlled putin. There are also parties controlled by putin, like afd in germany, le pen’s party in france, also the brexit guy nigel farage putin’s puppet
How else do you think AfD won so big in Thuringia and Saxony?
And centrists will imagine that all of it is localized entirely on lemmy, in the form of anyone to their left.
To me, this is the most interesting bit of the article
They targeted gamers and chatroom users, who they described as the “backbone of the right-wing trends in the US segment of the Internet,” [ … ]
We can kind of keep tabs on X or Facebook, but what goes down in Discord gamer chats is largely out of sight. I wish someone could drag more of this content out into the light of day where we could all see it.
You absolutely don’t want to see half the shit said in discord.
It’s all awful.
That’s why I want someone to summarize a sanitized version for me … so I have some sort of heads up on the next trend in stochastic terrorism without having to pluck my eyes out.
Lol, so aparently right wing will be lead by weabos and gamers, not by ultra religious men and women?
There’s nothing quite like not getting laid for fueling a wellspring of easily manipulated misogynist anger
terrifying scale
barely a percentage point compared to the fossil fuel industry’s war on Green Energy
I suppose you could reasonably argue that Rex Tillerson and Vladimir Putin were already joined at the hip. But the US advertising and influencing industry is vast - $515B annually and growing. The Russians aren’t even in the top ten of foreign influence peddlers. FFS, the Saudis bought golf.
Saudis aren’t trying to get Trump elected and directly meddle in the election.
And sure, the Saudis whitewash themselves and try to make us forget about Jamal. But Russia influence is really bad.
I’m not necessarily against foreign influence. Ukrainians have a right to make their case to us for example. But the Russian style disinfo is leading to conspiracy theories and a degeneration of our society.
Saudis aren’t trying to get Trump elected
The Israelis are, though.
But Russia influence is really bad.
US business interests have more influence over Russian foreign policy than Russians have on the US.
Russia is quite sanctioned, and the remaining US Business interest in Russia was looted / stolen by the Russians.
The business connection between USA and Russia is basically gone. Most (IE Elon Musk) are now making huge moves towards China now.
What remains are RT and other Russian disinfo groups
The business connection between USA and Russia is basically gone.
Clearly not, or Russians wouldn’t be able to slide cash into the pockets of social media influencers so easily.
Clearly not, or Russians wouldn’t be able to slide cash into the pockets of social media influencers so easily.
They didn’t. They got caught by the FBI and now we have massive news articles proving Russian influence. They literally just got caught, despite their best efforts at hiding.
Now comes the hard work at figuring out which of these 2800 influencers are fucking traitors… and which ones were just caught up in the mess. But someone in there had to have known that Russian money was part of this scheme.
They got caught by the FBI
After paying off the podcasters
Yes. That is how crimes work. The crime happens and then the FBI looks at you afterwards.
Are you… American? This crap is taught at grade school level.
Yes, what about this thing that has nothing to do with the subject of Russia influencing elections?
What’s terrifying about buying off a couple of podcasters? The scale is dwarfed by any number of other countries.
Yes, what is terrifying about Russia paying podcasters to spread pro-Russian propaganda, and social media posters trying to deflect from that story?
Wah but whatabout
Well Russia is part of that fossil fuel industry too, and they also hire lobbyists to push fossil fuels
It’s a big club and you ain’t in it
Russia might not spend as much money on propaganda as some other entities, but they punch above their weight in terms of tactics and effectiveness.
New Republic - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for New Republic:
MBFC: Left - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: High - United States of America
Wikipedia about this sourceWired Magazine - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)
Information for Wired Magazine:
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Wikipedia about this sourceWhy now, FBI?
I don’t know how we are supposed to just think “oh what a co-inky-dink”. Maybe I’m missing some timeline stuff here but I keep seeing DOJ action based on unsealed FBI stuff. Great, but when was it sealed? They probably have sealed documents that say the sky is blue too.
Edit: ok then. It’s just asking why we see action now when we’ve all know it for a long time. Carry on.
Probably because the Russians kicked up their campaign this year as the battle of Donesk went poorly for them.
Russia realizes that the #1 factor in their war for the Ukrainian East depends on getting Trump elected and the Republicans cutting aid.
The only reason Russia got Adviika was because Republicans cut aid between Nov 2023 and all of winter 2024. Shell hunger they called it, as the Ukrainians ran out of ammo and were forced to retreat from their fortress city.
Russia wants that to happen again. So they’re kicking up their influence campaigns.
Once an investigation culminates and it’s time to roll up the targets, this is what happens. They have whole procedures for this, written down in books… You know the law.
Carry on.
SundialBill vibes.
