Lankford: Russian trolls spread NFL anthem divides
U.S. Sen. James Lankford says automated Twitter accounts linked to Russia spread vitriol about the National Football League to sow division in the United States.
“We watched, even this weekend, the Russians and their troll farms and their internet folks start hashtagging out #TakeAKnee and also hashtagging out #BoycottNFL,” the Oklahoma City Republican told a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing Wednesday.
It was a reference to fake Twitter accounts, known as “trolls,” that American intelligence agencies say are used by Russians to spread division and distrust in the U.S. and Europe. Intelligence agencies believe trolls are among the tactics used by Russians to influence
the 2016 election.
“They were taking both sides of the argument this weekend and pushing them out from their troll farms as much as they could to try to just raise the noise level in America and to make a big issue seem like even a bigger issue, because they’re trying to push the divisiveness in the country,” Lankford said.
On Sunday, many NFL players knelt during the National Anthem in protest of officer-related shootings of AfricanAmericans and recent comments by President Donald Trump that players should be punished for doing so.
The acts set off a debate over patriotism and the First Amendment that spread through social media.
Lankford said it was the latest example of Russia’s Twitter trolls at work.
“We’ve continued to be able to see that. We will see that again in our election time,” he said.
According to an American think-tank that monitors Russian influence and interference, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the NFL was the most talked about topic among Russian-linked accounts this week. The most used link was an article about a Pittsburgh Steelers coach hosting a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton.
DJ Jordan, a spokesman for Lankford, said the senator is privy to intelligence about Russian troll farms as a member of the Senate presidential
Intelligence Committee.
“Today, Sen. Lankford decided to expose this activity more, because he believes the American people should know. Building awareness of this activity will also hopefully reduce the level of meddling that Russians are attempting,” Jordan said.
Lankford asked acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke if her agency has the resources it needs to assess the nation’s election systems and ensure they are secure from Russian meddling.
“We do have the resources to do it,” Duke told him. “Not all states have requested it and I think there is still an issue with some states on whether they want that federal involvement, but we do have the resources.”
Lankford has been an outspoken critic of Russia and its alleged disinformation efforts, despite claims from a fellow Republican, the president, that Russia did not attempt to influence his election last year.
“The objective of Russian meddling is to divide Americans, and create doubt and chaos in American institutions and our government,” said Jordan, his spokesman. “Russia has been doing this in Europe for years. … In the 2016 election, we saw a heightened level of this in America for the first time.”
Lankford also has not shied away from weighing in on the NFL controversy. After unveiling an immigration bill Monday, the senator was asked about Trump’s comments. He said individuals
have free speech and can protest as they choose, but businesses also can react accordingly.
“I do have an issue that I have to tell you. For whatever reason in America, if individual players kneel and protest at a football game, that’s seen as free speech. We do have high school coaches that have kneeled in silent prayer and they’ve been fired,” Lankford said.
“Now, the First Amendment, it goes start to finish. We can’t say to one football coach, ‘You’re fired if you kneel in silent prayer at the end of the game’ but to a player, 'If you kneel in protest at the game, you’re celebrated,'” he added. “We’ve got to be able to determine where we are as Americans on that. If we’re going to honor all free speech and all free exercise of religion, we need to be able to honor that universally.”
A series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings have limited prayer in public schools, including at sporting events. In 2000, the high court ruled a Texas high school’s policy permitting student-led prayer at football games was unconstitutional.
More recently, a Washington high school football coach was fired for praying after games. His termination was unanimously upheld in August by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled the coach “took advantage of his position to press his particular views upon the impressionable and captive minds before him.”