malign disinformation/disruption mischief has been operating since 2016 and it's getting worse
Recall that the White House “over-classified” various documents to prevent Congressional investigation in the Trump impeachment. On the other side of the public sphere, websites like Global Research and Newsfront spread conspiracy theories also promoted by Russian Intelligence.
CHICAGO (AP) — The State Department says Russia is using a well-developed online operation that includes a loose collection of proxy websites to stir up confusion around the coronavirus by amplifying conspiracy theories and misinformation.The disclosure on Wednesday was rare for the Trump administration, which has been cautious about blaming the Kremlin for disinformation campaigns, especially around the U.S. election. Despite evidence that Russia launched a divisive disinformation operation on social media during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the State Department’s report did not examine how — if at all — Russia is waging another online influence campaign in this year’s election.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did, however, announce Wednesday that the U.S. would offer a reward of up to $10 million for information that identifies people working with foreign governments to interfere in the U.S. election through illegal cyber activity.The department detailed a Russian-backed misinformation cycle that spreads false information online through state officials and state-funded media reports, by infiltrating U.S. social media conversation, and leveraging a deceptive internet framework of websites. The Kremlin’s efforts have most recently focused on conspiracy theories around the pandemic, the report found.“Russia is playing a significant role in creating and spreading misinformation and propaganda around many topics,” said Lea Gabrielle, head of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center.The department named more than a half-dozen websites that, serving as “proxies” for Russia, have peddled a series of conspiracy theories about the pandemic that have been widely spreading and hotly debated across social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
More chilling & shocking evidence of deeply dangerous foreign threats to our elections—& more reason to declassify the terrifying information given to us in secret briefings over the past few days. https://t.co/vZE7riHhzh
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) August 5, 2020
We need to be prepared. The American people need & deserve to know the classified threats to our democracy.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) August 5, 2020
Russia was in a position to alter actual vote tallies in 2016, @SenBlumenthal is calling that “child’s play” compared to what Russia’s up to now, the public remains in the dark, & this is not getting a fraction of the attention it deserves. We are going past a point of no return. https://t.co/4IhvqZIhrY
— jennycohn@toad.social ✍🏻 📢 (@jennycohn1) August 6, 2020
One national security official said enough is known about certain bad actors that it should be “out of the question to consider their information legitimate investigative material,” referring to the Ukrainians who have sought to feed information to Johnson and other Trump allies.
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) August 5, 2020
https://twitter.com/mikercarpenter/status/1291152031332413440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The US is building a new Great Firewall https://t.co/eiy74IW4ym
— Quartz (@qz) August 6, 2020
It’s appropriate that the president who treats the office as a reality TV stage, and never bothered to learn the actual job, will make his final plea to voters in a purely made-for-TV spectacle, writes @JRubinBlogger https://t.co/Sv4sG4bFfK
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) August 6, 2020
AOC: "To your knowledge, did the president ever provide inflated assets to an insurance company?"
Cohen: "Yes”
AOC: "Who else knows that the president did this?"
—-#ConsequencesForTrump pic.twitter.com/jCNCpfOiPc
— Hispanic Citizen 🥑 (@US_Latino) August 6, 2020
