126m Russians on Facebook
Study shows sweep of disinformation campaign
With a number of probes moving closer to the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer questioned the integrity of investigators while ruling out the possibility of a presidential interview with the Special Counsel.
Rudy Giuliani delivered broadsides against Robert Mueller. Giuliani said he was “disgusted” by the tactics used by Mueller in his probe into Russian election interference. Trump, Giuliani said, would not submit to an interview by Mueller’s team. “They’re a joke,” Giuliani told Fox News. “Over my dead body.”
Mueller, who is investigating possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, has continued to request an interview. Last month, the White House sent written answers in response to Mueller’s questions about possible collusion but has resisted answering questions on possible obstruction of justice. The Special Counsel’s team could seek to subpoena him to compel his testimony.
Yesterday the Washington Post reported that a study prepared for the US Senate provided the most sweeping analysis yet of Russia’s disinformation campaign around the 2016 US presidential election. It found the operation used every major social media platform to deliver words, images and videos tailored to voters’ interests to help elect Trump.
The research by Oxford University and Graphika, a network analysis firm, offers new details on how Russians working at the Internet Research Agency sliced Americans into key interest groups for the purpose of targeting messages.
“What is clear is that all of the messaging clearly sought to benefit the Republican Party — and specifically Donald Trump,” the report says. “Trump is mentioned most in campaigns targeting conservatives and right-wing voters, where the messaging encouraged these groups to support his campaign.
“The main groups that could challenge Trump were then provided messaging that sought to confuse, distract and ultimately discourage members from voting.”
The Russians tried to activate conservatives on issues such as gun rights and immigration, while sapping the political clout of African-American voters by undermining their faith in elections and spreading misleading information about voting.
More than 99 per cent of all engagement came from 20 Facebook “Pages” controlled by the agency, including “Being Patriotic,” “Heart of Texas,” “Blacktivist” and “Army of Jesus.” Together the 20 pages generated 39 million likes, 31 million shares, 5.4 million reactions and 3.4 million comments. The Russian campaign reached 126 million people on Facebook and 20 million more on Instagram.