Josh Russell: Comprehensive list of Internet Research Agency Social Media “Groups”. “This is just a collection of all the social media group names that can be found, consider it a living document that I will try to keep updated. I haven’t included twitter handles, email addresses, or websites in this.”
Russia
Simon Willison: Analyzing US Election Russian Facebook Ads
Simon Willison: Analyzing US Election Russian Facebook Ads . “Two interesting data sources have emerged in the past few weeks concerning the Russian impact on the 2016 US elections. FiveThirtyEight published nearly 3 million tweets from accounts associated with the Russian ‘Internet Research Agency’—see my article and searchable tweet archive here. Separately, the House Intelligence Committee Minority released 3,517 Facebook ads that were reported to have been bought by the Russian Internet Research Agency as a set of redacted PDF files.” Mr. Willison created some tools for exploring the data, as well as creating ancillary utilities.
Times of India: Russia slams social media expert’s claim that it may target Indian polls
Times of India: Russia slams social media expert’s claim that it may target Indian polls . “Russia today dismissed as ‘false’ a social media expert’s claim that Moscow may interfere in elections in countries such as India through their media and said it will never act against Indian interests.”
Washington Post: The strange birth, death and rebirth of a Russian troll account called “AllForUSA”
Washington Post: The strange birth, death and rebirth of a Russian troll account called “AllForUSA”. “An Indiana man named Jesse D. Allen created a website in 2005 with the title AllForUSA.com, apparently to pursue some business interests, but he soon abandoned the site. A decade later, at the age of 80, Allen died. But AllForUSA was just getting started.”
Washington Post: Several groups banned by Facebook had strong similarities to Twitter accounts linked to Russia six weeks ago
Washington Post: Several groups banned by Facebook had strong similarities to Twitter accounts linked to Russia six weeks ago. “At least three groups that Facebook banned this week for spreading disinformation shared similar names and traits with Twitter accounts that had been linked publicly to Russia six weeks earlier, underscoring the challenges of swiftly shutting down a foreign influence campaign even once strong hints emerge of who is behind it.”
Mother Jones: How to Spot a Russian Bot
Mother Jones: How to Spot a Russian Bot. “Various experts have offered guides to spotting Twitter bots, though the specifics can get pretty obscure and technical. We’ve culled the below from some of the best online guides and expert advice—with the caveat that malicious actors continue to grow more sophisticated and none of these indicators is surefire.” This is a much meatier article than the usual “how to spot a bot” offerings.
FiveThirtyEight: Why We’re Sharing 3 Million Russian Troll Tweets
FiveThirtyEight: Why We’re Sharing 3 Million Russian Troll Tweets. “FiveThirtyEight has obtained nearly 3 million tweets from accounts associated with the Internet Research Agency. To our knowledge, it’s the fullest empirical record to date of Russian trolls’ actions on social media, showing a relentless and systematic onslaught. In concert with the researchers who first pulled the tweets, FiveThirtyEight is uploading them to GitHub so that others can explore the data for themselves.”
