CNET: Reddit uncovers Russian campaign to spread leaked UK documents. “A Reddit user who posted leaked UK government documents was part of a larger coordinated effort that appears to have originated in Russia, Reddit said in a security announcement Friday. A network of connected accounts re-posted the documents in several forums on the discussion website and manipulated Reddit’s voting system for highlighting popular content, all in an effort to bring more attention to the leaks.”
propaganda
New York Times: Fake ‘Likes’ Remain Just a Few Dollars Away, Researchers Say
New York Times: Fake ‘Likes’ Remain Just a Few Dollars Away, Researchers Say. “Companies like Facebook and Twitter are poorly policing automated bots and other methods for manipulating social media platforms, according to a report released on Friday by researchers from the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence. With a small amount of money, the researchers found, virtually anyone can hire a company to get more likes, comments and clicks.”
In the crosshairs of Facebook ads: Understanding the new infrastructures of political propaganda (The Hindu)
The Hindu: In the crosshairs of Facebook ads: Understanding the new infrastructures of political propaganda. “Trying to understand the new infrastructures of political propaganda, [Nayantara] Ranganathan and [Manuel] Beltrán launched [a new site] in July. The website compiles information on political ads running on Facebook and Instagram of more than 300 political actors across 39 countries. The interface shows, among other things, the regional distribution, timeline of ads, demographic targeting, money spent, attention gained, and the ad content. It answers interesting questions such as the amount of money Donald Trump spent on advertising ‘The Wall’ or the misinformation spread around Brexit.”
The Conversation: You can join the effort to expose Twitter bots
The Conversation: You can join the effort to expose Twitter bots. “In the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections, more than 10,000 automated Twitter accounts got caught conducting a coordinated campaign of tweets to discourage people from voting. These automated accounts may seem authentic to some, but a tool called Botometer was able to identify them while they pretentiously argued and agreed, for example, that ‘democratic men who vote drown out the voice of women.’ We are part of the team that developed this tool that detects the bot accounts on social media. Our next effort, called BotSlayer, is aimed at helping journalists and the general public spot these automated social media campaigns while they are happening.”
ProPublica: YouTube Promised to Label State-Sponsored Videos But Doesn’t Always Do So
ProPublica: YouTube Promised to Label State-Sponsored Videos But Doesn’t Always Do So. “A review by ProPublica shows that YouTube’s implementation of its policy to flag state-sponsored media channels has been haphazard, giving governments in Russia and elsewhere an opportunity to spread propaganda surreptitiously. The world’s most popular streaming service allowed 57 channels funded by the governments of Iran, Russia, China, Turkey and Qatar, among others, to play videos without labels.”
VentureBeat: Twitter election stunt shows how political groups are brazenly weaponizing social media
VentureBeat: Twitter election stunt shows how political groups are brazenly weaponizing social media. “Social media’s impact on politics has come under increased scrutiny, but a preelection live TV debate between U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition party leader Jeremy Corbyn revealed the extent to which political entities are openly weaponizing social networks to mislead the public.”
The Verge: Bot campaign on Twitter fuels confusion about Bolivian unrest
The Verge: Bot campaign on Twitter fuels confusion about Bolivian unrest. “Since last week, a network of Twitter bot accounts has been spreading confusion about the events surrounding Bolivian President Evo Morales’ abrupt resignation. The messages, which appear in English and Spanish, all carry the exact same text, beginning with the words, ‘Friends from everywhere, in Bolivia there was no coup.'”
