# Washington Post: Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 25, 2016, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945 "2016-11-25T03:41:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/1 "2016-11-25T03:41:58Z")
This is chilling. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helpehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/2016/11/24/793903b6-8a40-4ca9-b712-716af66098fe\_story.htmld-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/2016/11/24/793903b6-8a40-4ca9-b712-716af66098fe\_story.html](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helpehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/2016/11/24/793903b6-8a40-4ca9-b712-716af66098fe_story.htmld-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/2016/11/24/793903b6-8a40-4ca9-b712-716af66098fe_story.html) > [@](#): > > Two teams of independent researchers found that the Russians exploited American-made technology platforms to attack U.S. democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment, as an insurgent candidate harnessed a wide range of grievances to claim the White House. The sophistication of the Russian tactics may complicate efforts by Facebook and Google to crack down on “fake news,” as they have vowed to do after widespread complaints about the problem. > > There is no way to know whether the Russian campaign proved decisive in electing Trump, but researchers portray it as part of a broadly effective strategy of sowing distrust in U.S. democracy and its leaders. The tactics included penetrating the computers of election officials in several states and releasing troves of hacked emails that embarrassed Clinton in the final months of her campaign. > > “They want to essentially erode faith in the U.S. government or U.S. government interests,” said Clint Watts, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute who along with two other researchers has tracked Russian propaganda since 2014. “This was their standard mode during the Cold War. The problem is that this was hard to do before social media.” > … > The researchers used Internet analytics tools to trace the origins of particular tweets and mapped the connections among social-media accounts that consistently delivered synchronized messages. Identifying website codes sometimes revealed common ownership. In other cases, exact phrases or sentences were echoed by sites and social-media accounts in rapid succession, signaling membership in connected networks controlled by a single entity. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/2 "2016-11-25T04:21:34Z")
I’d say it was ironic that stories about fake news appear in the largest outlets of fake news but it’s just professional jealousy. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/3 "2016-11-25T07:39:41Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’d say it was ironic that stories about fake news appear in the largest outlets of fake news but it’s just professional jealousy. :rolleyes: Well where do you get your information about things outside your locality, oh enlightened citizen? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/4 "2016-11-25T08:10:40Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > :rolleyes: > > Well where do you get your information about things outside your locality, oh enlightened citizen? Mostly from cable TV fake news channels. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/5 "2016-11-25T08:20:31Z")
Think of how different this election would have been if those in power took the law and computer security seriously. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/6 "2016-11-25T08:29:41Z")
The Russians exploited a weakness of a hostile country. Wow, never been done before.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/7 "2016-11-25T08:41:03Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The Russians exploited a weakness of a hostile country. Wow, never been done before.:rolleyes: Oh, in that case I’m fine with it. :rolleyes::rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/8 "2016-11-25T08:44:45Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Oh, in that case I’m fine with it. :rolleyes::rolleyes: Yeah. Be fine with it. Thats how nation states and especially Great Powers act. You think the U.S has not been trying its damndest to influence elections on 7 continents for 7 decades? Turn about is fair play. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/9 "2016-11-25T09:58:52Z")
This is an outrage. As a proud patriot, I demand my fake news come from America oligarchs, not Russian oligarchs. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/10 "2016-11-25T10:15:59Z")
The U.S. media outlets worked long and hard to undermined their own credibility with the viewers. It seems that the LSM prefer to be the first to report a story and accuracy became a secondary consideration. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell which group produces the most fake news, the Russians, or the Washington Post. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/11 "2016-11-25T10:18:30Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > The U.S. media outlets worked long and hard to undermined their own credibility with the viewers. It seems that the LSM prefer to be the first to report a story and accuracy became a secondary consideration. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell which group produces the most fake news, the Russians, or the Washington Post. Hey, same question to you. What news sources do you frequent? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/12 "2016-11-25T10:55:11Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > The U.S. media outlets worked long and hard to undermined their own credibility with the viewers. It seems that the LSM prefer to be the first to report a story and accuracy became a secondary consideration. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell which group produces the most fake news, the Russians, or the Washington Post. _I_ have no problem telling the difference. Yes, I know The Donald’s been angry at the _Post_ for some time now; you’re following The Party Line. Can you offer \*one \*fake news story from this [American news source](https://www.washingtonpost.com/)? ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/13 "2016-11-25T13:16:30Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Think of how different this election would have been if those in power took the law and computer security seriously. Preferably from private servers run from the editor’s house. Private servers are the best ! ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/14 "2016-11-25T13:26:42Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > The U.S. media outlets worked long and hard to undermined their own credibility with the viewers. It seems that the LSM prefer to be the first to report a story and accuracy became a secondary consideration. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell which group produces the most fake news, the Russians, or the Washington Post. Not everyone finds it “difficult to tell,” only those in the target audience who lack, or have no interest in acquiring, the minimal critical thinking skills needed to discern actual news reporting from outlandish (but worldview-propping) bullshit invented out of whole cloth by unsourced clickbait mills exploiting endemic, generational American ignorance for fun and profit. Cheer up, though, you’re in good company. Numerous, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/15 "2016-11-25T14:56:30Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Yeah. Be fine with it. Thats how nation states and especially Great Powers act. You think the U.S has not been trying its damndest to influence elections on 7 continents for 7 decades? Turn about is fair play. None of which I had anything to do with and none of which I supported. But now the US and the world face a bigoted far right US government that’s buddy buddy with Putin, talks in a cavalier manner about the use of nuclear weapons, and not only doesn’t care about human caused global warming but doesn’t even believe in it. That’s just the start of the list, and all of those things affect the entire world, not just the US. And yeah I do also care about domestic issues, so sue me. I care about my family and friends and fellow citizens. Don’t most people? Don’t you? So yeah, I am not going to be fine with it regardless of you telling me otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/16 "2016-11-25T15:07:45Z")
Even allowing for their admission that there is no evidence of any effect (delicately phrased as “no way to know”), the statement: > [@](#): > > the Russians exploited American-made technology platforms to attack U.S. democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment is a monumentally hyperbolic way of saying, “several Twitter accounts seem to be run by the same people.” The idea that we need to start cleansing the foreigners off of “American-made” social media because something somewhere on the internet is wrong strikes me as an overreaction. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/17 "2016-11-25T15:08:39Z")
The Washington Post article linked to in the OP cites an even more chilling article by fellows at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia and the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at The George Washington University: [Trolling for Trump: How Russia Is Trying to Destroy Our Democracy](http://warontherocks.com/2016/11/trolling-for-trump-how-russia-is-trying-to-destroy-our-democracy/) The subtitle of the article is: “Trump isn’t the end of Russia’s information war against America. They are just getting started.” :eek: From the article: [quote] Until recently, Western governments focused on state-to-state negotiations with Putin’s regime largely missed Russian state-to-people social media approaches. Russia’s social media campaigns seek five complementary objectives to strengthen Russia’s position over Western democracies: [ul][li]Undermine citizen confidence in democratic governance;[/li][li]Foment and exacerbate divisive political fractures;[/li][li]Erode trust between citizens and elected officials and democratic institutions;[/li][li]Popularize Russian policy agendas within foreign populations;[/li][li]Create general distrust or confusion over information sources by blurring the lines between fact and fiction.[/ul][/li][/quote] ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/18 "2016-11-25T15:16:52Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Even allowing for their admission that there is no evidence of any effect (delicately phrased as “no way to know”), the statement: > is a monumentally hyperbolic way of saying, “several Twitter accounts seem to be run by the same people.” The idea that we need to start cleansing the foreigners off of “American-made” social media because something somewhere on the internet is wrong strikes me as an overreaction. Who said anything about cleansing foreigners? You’re conflating foreign intelligence agents with foreign citizens in general. If this was a hostile act by a foreign government then there is every reason to be concerned and there is every to reason to inform the American people that it is going on and that they need to think more critically and be more suspicious of what they read. I can’t believe the people on here who seem to be suggesting that we just take it up the ass like good little propaganda targets. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/19 "2016-11-25T15:27:42Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > _I_ have no problem telling the difference. Yes, I know The Donald’s been angry at the _Post_ for some time now; you’re following The Party Line. > > Can you offer \*one \*fake news story from this [American news source](https://www.washingtonpost.com/)? Is there a rigorous definition of “fake news story,” in play here? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945/20 "2016-11-25T15:37:30Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Even allowing for their admission that there is no evidence of any effect (delicately phrased as “no way to know”), the statement: > is a monumentally hyperbolic way of saying, “several Twitter accounts seem to be run by the same people.” The idea that we need to start cleansing the foreigners off of “American-made” social media because something somewhere on the internet is wrong strikes me as an overreaction. It’s more than just “several Twitter accounts seem to be run by the same people.” The [story](http://warontherocks.com/2016/11/trolling-for-trump-how-russia-is-trying-to-destroy-our-democracy/) I just linked to cites research showing evidence for “thousands of Russian-language bots” and “7,000 social media accounts” linked to Russia, along with Russian state-sponsored news outlets described in the article as including “Russian propaganda stations _RT_ and _Sputnik_.” More worryingly, the fake news is crowding out the real news: > [@The Washington Post](#): > > The Daily Beast debunked a particularly widely read piece in an article that reached 1,700 Facebook accounts and was read online more than 30,000 times. But the PropOrNot researchers found that the version supported by Russian propaganda reached 90,000 Facebook accounts and was read more than 8 million times. The researchers said the true Daily Beast story was like “shouting into a hurricane” of false stories supported by the Russians. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/washington-post-russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/772945.md?page=2)