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* Block Club Chicago…
A Russian company that’s sought to influence American events, including the 2016 presidential election, posed as a beloved, but long-shuttered Chicago newspaper on social media for years, according to NPR.
* NPR…
Another example: The Internet Research Agency created an account that looks like it is the Chicago Daily News. That newspaper shuttered in 1978.
The Internet Research Agency-linked account was created in May 2014, and for years, it just posted local headlines, accumulating some 19,000 followers by July 2016.
Another twist: These accounts apparently never spread misinformation. In fact, they posted real local news, serving as sleeper accounts building trust and readership for some future, unforeseen effort.
“They set them up for a reason. And if at any given moment, they wanted to operationalize this network of what seemed to be local American news handles, they can significantly influence the narrative on a breaking news story,” Schafer told NPR. “But now instead of just showing up online and flooding it with news sites, they have these accounts with two years of credible history.”
Twitter caught these Internet Research Agency accounts in the act and suspended them.
I remember seeing that Twitter account and wondering what the heck was going on. It looked totally benign to me, though, so I didn’t think much more of it.
* Other stuff…
* ADDED: Rep. Peter Roskam: Russia’s interference with our democratic process is appalling and undeniable. The President has a responsibility to not only confront Vladimir Putin for attacking our democracy, but to use all tools available to prevent future acts of aggression that could undermine the cornerstone of our republic – free and fair elections. Vladimir Putin is not our ally – he is a brutal dictator who has undermined our democratic institutions; invaded and continues to illegally occupy the territory of our allies Ukraine and Georgia; and continues to support the massacre of hundreds of thousands in Syria. We must maintain a united front with our partners around the world to confront Russian aggression. Today’s press conference was an affront to American democracy and the Intelligence Community and a victory for Russian propaganda. The President has a duty to hold Vladimir Putin to account.
* @IllinoisWorking: Today, Donald Trump cast doubt on Russian interference in the 2016 election. On Friday, @TheJusticeDept said Russia hacked the Illinois State Board of Elections website and stole the personal information of 500,000 Illinoisans. Who does Bruce Rauner believe?
* Illinois Dems Blast Trump On Twitter After Summit With Putin: Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-16th District) was one of the only Illinois Republican congressional members to criticize Trump, but did not mention him directly in this Tweet: The American people deserve the truth, & to disregard the legitimacy of our intelligence officials is a disservice to the men & women who serve this country. It’s time to wake up & face reality. #Putin is not our friend; he’s an enemy to our freedom.
* The Moscow Midterms - How Russia could steal our next election: What happened in Illinois had him anxious. It was like the hackers wanted someone to notice they were in the system — they had practically alerted IT themselves with the amount of noise they were making, bombarding the servers. Why? And why hadn’t John’s cyberforensics guys found any back door to the attack? Were the Russians still there, lying quietly hidden until the right moment?
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 3:20 pm
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===“They set them up for a reason. And if at any given moment, they wanted to operationalize this network of what seemed to be local American news handles, they can significantly influence the narrative on a breaking news story,”===
Isn’t that essentially what Dan Proft is doing with his “alternative” local newspapers?
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 3:24 pm
==- 47th Ward - Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 3:24 pm:==
When’s the last time Dan went to Moscow? /s
Comment by Precinct Captain Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 3:32 pm
Does Marshall Field V still own the trademark?
Comment by Keyrock Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 3:36 pm
===Isn’t that essentially what Dan Proft is doing with his “alternative” local newspapers?===
Yes. Vertical integration. Make up news, report news, cite the made up news in reported news, use the cited reported news in political propaganda. Rinse. Repeat.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 4:00 pm
There’s a robust market of Useful Idiots who can’t get enough it. The country is lousy with them right now, Dios mios.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 4:07 pm
wow that Chicago Daily News twitter handle is seriously scary.
Comment by Boone's is Back Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 4:28 pm
Normal News -
Your proof? Don’t demean the press. Right or left, they keep our leaders in check. They are the only ones sometimes.
Comment by 360 Degree TurnAround Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 4:38 pm
–NPR = Liberal hogwash–
Well done.
Not a single thought to the actual facts at hand, just, unapologetically, a big, fat, Pavlovian drool.
Like I was saying, the country is lousy with them these days.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 4:40 pm
I wonder what Mike Royko would say.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 5:13 pm
Royko would say - это коррумпированный бык
Comment by Teddy Salad Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 5:34 pm
если у вас есть страна, не нужен Trump.
This has got to be something where there was collusion with an American. I am skeptical even a Russian intelligence officer would know about the Chicago Daily New’s cultural capital.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 5:47 pm
I can’t track it down right now, but someone made a parody DuMont Television Network Twitter account that was fairly amusing.
Comment by FGFM Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 5:54 pm
….something where there was collusion with an American…. Yeah, Roger Stone already admitted that he is the person unnamed in the indictment. so there’s one. and anyone at the NRA who worked with the Russian woman arrested on Sunday, that’s more.
Comment by Amalia Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 6:18 pm
There’s an old gag: you get two pigs, or two goats, and you paint the number “1″ on one of them and a “3″ on the second one, then let ‘em loose inside whatever building you wanted to disrupt. The two animals are swiftly caught, but the authorities go nuts for hours, trying to find the “missing” “number 2″ animal.
This is like what part of the Russian attack is like: sowing doubt and confusion about our process so we lose faith in our institutions. They did it to other nations before they did it to us. Most recently Ukraine. That’s another way a “clean” account like this works… it may -never- have been activated in anger, yet it’s mere presence engenders doubts and fears that we missed something.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 6:22 pm
Too bad the president back in 2016 didn’t think it was a big deal when it was happening, right?
Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 6:31 pm
–Too bad the president back in 2016 didn’t think it was a big deal when it was happening, right?–
Didn’t you get the news today? Both Putin and Trump say nothing happened.
Where do you get your Instant Historical Revisionism? Woolco?
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 6:36 pm
anonymous at 6:22 PM identifies the Russian tactics.
also a russian national with membership in NRA arrested and charged yesterday. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/maria-butina-feds-charge-russian-national-for-acting-as-covert-kremlin-agent/
Comment by lost in the weeds Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 6:45 pm
===Too bad the president back in 2016 didn’t think it was a big deal when it was happening, right?===
It was Obama’s Justice Department that ordered James Comey to start the investigation of Russian interference. It was Obama’s himself who confronted Putin personally to tell him to knock it off.
Trump? He fired Comey and kisses up to Putin at every opportunity.
Did you hurt your head recently? That comment ranks among the dopiest you’ve ever offered. Or my snark detector is broken. Which is it?
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 6:46 pm
So, Illinois was hacked.
How do they know for sure that no votes were changed?
Quinn was ahead in the polls……..
Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Monday, Jul 16, 18 @ 7:46 pm
Michael Daniels, former White House cyber security coordinator testified last month that the President was aware of Russian actions and through Susan Rice, Daniels was told to “stand down”.
We’ve known about this for nearly three years, but now it’s a big deal?
Why?
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Jul 17, 18 @ 8:09 am
Here’s the problem:
https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/26/voting-machine-makers-are-already-worried-about-defcon/
Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Tuesday, Jul 17, 18 @ 9:40 am
My concern is did Trump leave out an “n’t” by accident or on purpose. Either way the result continues the fog of lies.
Comment by lost in the weeds Tuesday, Jul 17, 18 @ 4:23 pm