Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announces the indictments of more than a dozen Russians charged with conspiring to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election campaign during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, U.S., February 16, 2018. David Shepardson/Reuters
Ben Collins, Gideon Resnick, and Spencer Ackerman, Daily Beast: Leaked: Secret Documents From Russia’s Election Trolls
An online auction gone awry reveals substantial new details on Kremlin-backed troll farm efforts to stir up real protests and target specific Americans to push their propaganda.
The Kremlin-backed troll farm at the center of Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election has quietly suffered a catastrophic security breach, The Daily Beast has confirmed, in a leak that spilled new details of its operations onto obscure corners of the internet.
The Russian “information exchange” Joker.Buzz, which auctions off often stolen or confidential information, advertised a leak for a large cache of the Internet Research Agency’s (IRA) internal documents. It includes names of Americans, activists in particular, whom the organization specifically targeted; American-based proxies used to access Reddit and the viral meme site 9Gag; and login information for troll farm accounts.
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WNU Editor: I expected more from this Daily Beast article. Three journalists wrote it .... and I had high expectations .... but I was disappointed. Some key points. This Kremlin-back troll operation used Reddit and Tumblr .... no surprise there .... Reddit and Tumblr are popular social media platforms used by millions of Americans. A few American names are leaked .... and the Daily Beast tracked them down. But these Americans did not know who they were dealing with, and actually found the Internet Research Agency’s approach to contact them suspicious. Again .... no surprise there. Many Russians on social media have developed a nose on when to spot a Kremlin disinformation campaign .... and in my case I usually spot it right away. This just proves that Americans are no different. The Internet Research Agency’s budget was $1.25 million and about 80 employees .... and its mandate was to sow discord among the American electorate. OK .... foreigners trying to influence a U.S. election is illegal and they should be prosecuted .... but did it cause that much of an impact? The U.S. Presidential campaign cost billions .... $1.25 million will not make a dent. And as to sowing discord .... again .... are you kidding me .... there is more than enough discord out there that the Russians do not need to put fuel on the fire. WNU's comments section sometimes carries a lot of discord and chaos .... and I quite sure there is zero Russian involvement to stoke it (with the exception of yours truly whose nationality is Russian, but who is more focused on keeping the peace). In conclusion .... with time I expect more revelations and disclosures .... but after a year is this all that they have? And then the big question .... is this information true, or is this just another disinformation attempt?
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