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Incredible. These bombshell reports demonstrate just how far Russia went to exploit the fault lines of our society and divide Americans, in an attempt to undermine and manipulate our democracy. Here's what we’ve learned:https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/russia-favored-trump-targeted-african-americans-election-meddling-reports-say-n948731 …
Russia’s reach was widespread. The Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency reached 126 million Americans on Facebook, and 20 million via Instagram. They were active on other platforms including Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Tumblr, Pinterest, and PayPal.
The IRA continued its efforts well into 2017, when these accounts were finally shut down. In fact, they actually accelerated their efforts on Instagram after the election.
Not only were they posting pro-Kremlin content and leveraging it with online ads to influence our political discourse; they were also specifically trying to recruit Americans as unwitting Russian intelligence assets through these efforts.
There is no doubt that Russia favored Trump over Clinton in 2016, but politics is only part of the picture. Putin is not a Republican or a Democrat. The ultimate goal here was to undermine Americans’ trust in our democratic institutions.
We see this in the fact that Russian information operations went far beyond partisan politics, exploiting deeper divisions in American society.
Communities targeted by Russia include: Christians, Muslims, gun enthusiasts, Native Americans, law enforcement, LGBTQ Americans, liberals, conservatives, veterans, feminists, and Bernie Sanders supporters, among others.
But no group was targeted more extensively by Russia than black Americans — both to exploit issues related to police violence and the Black Lives Matter movement AND to suppress the black vote ahead of the 2016 election.
As one report puts it, “The IRA created an expansive cross-platform media mirage targeting the Black community, which shared and cross-promoted authentic Black media to create an immersive influence ecosystem.”
The truth is, Russia attempted to use our greatest strengths — our open society, freedom of expression, and cultural and political diversity — as weapons to undermine the stability of our society and democracy.
Bottom line: these attacks against our country were much more comprehensive, calculating and widespread than previously revealed. This should stand as a wakeup call to us all that none of us are immune from this threat, and it is time to get serious in addressing this challenge.
That is going to require some much-needed and long-overdue guardrails when it comes to social media. I hope these reports will spur legislative action in the Congress and provide additional clarity to the American public about Russia’s assault on our democracy.
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