The New York Times: Russia Sought to Use Social Media to Influence E.U. Vote, Report Finds. “European authorities blamed Russian groups on Friday for disinformation campaigns designed to depress turnout and sway public opinion in last month’s European Union elections, an official accounting that underscored how Russian interference has not abated and that Facebook and other tech platforms remain vulnerable to meddling.”
Russia
Information operations on Twitter: principles, process, and disclosure (Twitter Blog)
Twitter Blog: Information operations on Twitter: principles, process, and disclosure. “In October 2018, we published the first comprehensive archive of Tweets and media associated with known state-backed information operations on Twitter. Since its launch, thousands of researchers from across the globe have downloaded datasets, which contain more than 30 million Tweets and over 1 terabyte of media, using our archive to conduct their own investigations and to share their insights and independent analysis with the world. Today, we’re adding six additional datasets to our archive, covering coordinated, state-backed activities originating from four jurisdictions. All accounts have been removed from Twitter.”
Engadget: Russia to start blocking major VPNs after censorship refusal
Engadget: Russia to start blocking major VPNs after censorship refusal. “Russia’s hatred for censorship-dodging VPNs is well-known, and it’s now prepared to follow through on its warnings. Telecoms oversight chief Alexander Zharov told Interfax that he expected to block nine major VPNs, including ExpressVPN and NordVPN, for refusing to connect to a national blacklist that would prevent people from accessing sites through their tunneling services. He expected that the crackdown could take place within a month.”
Twitterbots: Anatomy of a Propaganda Campaign (Symantec)
Symantec: Twitterbots: Anatomy of a Propaganda Campaign. “One of the main talking points of the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign involved attempts to surreptitiously influence public opinion using social media campaigns. In the months after the election, it quickly became apparent that a sophisticated propaganda operation had been directed against American voters. Not surprisingly, news of these campaigns caused widespread public concern, prompting social media firms to launch investigations into whether their services had been misused. In October 2018, Twitter released a massive dataset of content posted on its service by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian company responsible for the largest propaganda campaign directed against the U.S.”
NBC News: Russian trolls who interfered in 2016 U.S. election also made ad money, report says
NBC News: Russian trolls who interfered in 2016 U.S. election also made ad money, report says. “The effort by a Russian internet deception factory to manipulate American public opinion during the 2016 election was better planned and executed — and also more lucrative — than previously understood, according to a new analysis of nearly 10 million tweets by a leading cybersecurity firm.”
Russian data theft: Shady world where all is for sale (BBC)
BBC: Russian data theft: Shady world where all is for sale . “Data breaches by Russian hackers are a global concern now, but the BBC has discovered how easy it is to buy personal data such as passport and bank account details in Russia itself.”
TIME: Russia Demands Tinder Share User Data, Messages With Its National Intelligence Agencies
TIME: Russia Demands Tinder Share User Data, Messages With Its National Intelligence Agencies. “Russia is requiring dating app Tinder to hand over data on its users — including messages — to national intelligence agencies, part of the country’s widening crackdown on internet freedoms. The communications regulator said Monday that Tinder was included on a list of online services operating in Russia that are required to provide user data on demand to Russian authorities, including the FSB security agency.”
