General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFBI investigating Blightbart and Infowars for Russian ties
March 20, 2017
Peter Stone and Greg Gordon
McClatchy Washington Bureau
Posted with permission from Tribune Content Agency
Republish
Reprint
WASHINGTON Federal investigators are examining whether far-right news sites played any role last year in a Russian cyber operation that dramatically widened the reach of news stories some fictional that favored Donald Trump's presidential bid, two people familiar with the inquiry say.
Operatives for Russia appear to have strategically timed the computer commands, known as "bots," to blitz social media with links to the pro-Trump stories at times when the billionaire businessman was on the defensive in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton, these sources said.
The bots' end products were largely millions of Twitter and Facebook posts carrying links to stories on conservative internet sites such as Breitbart News and InfoWars, as well as on the Kremlin-backed RT News and Sputnik News, the sources said. Some of the stories were false or mixed fact and fiction, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the bot attacks are part of an FBI-led investigation into a multifaceted Russian operation to influence last year's elections.
Investigators examining the bot attacks are exploring whether the far-right news operations took any actions to assist Russia's operatives. Their participation, however, wasn't necessary for the bots to amplify their news through Twitter and Facebook.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/breitbart-and-infowars-under-investigation-for-ties-to-russia-report/
Initech
(100,079 posts)Oh and the sound of Alex Jones' head exploding -
wordpix
(18,652 posts)They guy is fat, flabby, and a heart attack waiting to happen
Kingofalldems
(38,458 posts)FSogol
(45,487 posts)DK504
(3,847 posts)Despite the fact that they KNEW it was bullshit they still "reported" it like it was realistic. Every single news agency in this country is complicit in getting this traitor in office. EVERY damn one of them.
mopinko
(70,112 posts)my personal trumpkin links to them several times a day.
deep ct shit.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)My hypothesis
R B Garr
(16,954 posts)Let's send them all over there. They can bunk with Assange.