"Russian internet trolls hired U.S. journalists to push their news website"

[Budi]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1239000?__twitter_impression=true

(Now those 'journalists' refuse to be named)

Russian internet trolls hired U.S. journalists to push their news website, Facebook says
Facebook said the website is run by people affiliated with the Internet Research Agency, which inflamed political tensions in the 2016 election through social media.


Some of Russia’s most notorious internet trolls have launched a news website that hired real-life journalism freelancers — including Americans — to contribute, Facebook said Tuesday.

The site, called Peace Data, launched this year with coverage focused largely on the environment and corporate and political corruption.

Facebook learned through a tip from the FBI that people formerly associated with the Russian Internet Research Agency, which created a number of influential Twitter and Facebook personas to inflame political tensions in the 2016 election, ran Peace Data and has taken down its known affiliated accounts. It had yet to gain a serious following, said Nathaniel Gleicher, the company’s head of cybersecurity policy.


SNIP
“This looks like an attempt to target left-wing audiences on a range of issues, but the operation got taken down in its early stages and didn't score measurable impact,” Nimmo said. “The election wasn't the only focus, but to the extent that it was, it looks like the operation wanted to divide Democratic voters, the same way the IRA tried in 2016,” he said, referring to the Internet Research Agency.


An American journalist who wrote several articles for the site said he was unaware that the website was backed by Russians and that it was hard to turn down paid writing work in an era when many journalists have trouble finding it.

“They DM’d me on Twitter and said hey do you wanna write for us, we’ll give you $200 an article,” said the journalist, who asked to not be named so as not to draw undue attention to having worked for a misleading news operation. “I lost my job during COVID and was pretty desperate to earn money just to pay rent.”
MORE...

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Some pols knew of this operation in 2016 but chose to keep quiet when it benefitted their own opportunity.

This touches only the surface of why social media, in 2016, became inundated with hate propaganda against the one woman who knew & warned of Russia's threat to our nation.

They built an entire fringe political party & gave them a catchy name, against the Democratic Party using this method, that exists today, via the use of a Social Media cult of naievete & ignorance.

Excellent Read...
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Link to tweet