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Russia used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over Black Lives Matter, Muslims

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Russia used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over Black Lives Matter, Muslims

#101

Post by int_19h »

meowface wrote: post #91
int_19h wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's not so much the fact of influence, as it was the nature of it. If, say, RT runs propaganda pieces in favor of candidate X, and against candidate Y, that's fine, because everybody knows that it is Russian propaganda. They can factor that knowledge into their decision making accordingly (and it doesn't need to be negative - e.g. someone who is interested in warmer relations with Russia, for whatever reason…

But why is it that when Russia engages in covert foreign propaganda, it's bad, but when the US does it it's normal or expected and no one complains? Are you suggesting the US and other countries don't use blatantly, knowingly false propaganda as well? Of course, from a political standpoint Russia's government needs to be penalized by the US's government. And of course, if there's any evidence of collusion between US…

I'll be perfectly fine with other countries cracking down on covert US propaganda abroad, just as we do with FARA.

Re: Russia used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over Black Lives Matter, Muslims

#102

Post by nasredin »

anuragojha wrote: post #29
j1vms wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> use its special services within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism... And therein lies the sad reality for us all. Given how brilliant Russians truly are, had they directed their tremendous cultural wealth instead toward stabilizing and strengthening this world, perhaps they would have already achieved their goals of leading it long ago. Of course, that might entail in some ways to…

> had(Russian) they directed their tremendous cultural wealth instead toward stabilizing and strengthening this world, perhaps they would have already achieved their goals of leading it long ago. Do you have any examples from the current roster of leading nations that have used their resources to contribute to stability of the world? The sad reality is USA does all it can to retain power. All other are trying everyth…

Somebody has to be on top.

Would you rather have:

USA

Russia

China

...be the top dog?

It is not perfect but USA being the lone superpower is probably the best choice.

Re: Russia used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over Black Lives Matter, Muslims

#103

Post by nasredin »

thriftwy wrote: post #69
dgudkov wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The interest in geopolitics is deeply imprinted in the Russian mindset from the Soviet era. Since the dawn of the USSR the Communists always thought in terms of geopolitics and influence expansion. It constantly translated through the state propaganda to the masses. Therefore, an average Soviet person would be more interested in the progress on "helping our friends / fighting our enemies abroad" rather than in having…

> The vast majority of the country were in ruins The vast majority of USSR were in ruins? Reality check hello? I see you here from time to time, every one of them political load >> facts. That makes you a Soviet person like the one you describe.

> The vast majority of the country were in ruins

He's talking about WWII, probably the single biggest even to shape Soviet/Russian worldview.

Re: Russia used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over Black Lives Matter, Muslims

#104

Post by thriftwy »

nasredin wrote: post #103
thriftwy wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The vast majority of the country were in ruins The vast majority of USSR were in ruins? Reality check hello? I see you here from time to time, every one of them political load >> facts. That makes you a Soviet person like the one you describe.

> The vast majority of the country were in ruins He's talking about WWII, probably the single biggest even to shape Soviet/Russian worldview.

"yet its people were immensely proud of advances in Korea/Afghanistan/Vietnam/Egypt and whatever other warzone the USSR was involved at that time"

Afghanistan was in late 1970-s, I mean come on. Egypt before that but pretty far from ruins period. One can probably only claim it about Korean War.

Re: Russia used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over Black Lives Matter, Muslims

#105

Post by mcphage »

debacle wrote: post #64
Harimwakairi wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the outrage needs to be kept down No. If a foreign power attempted to influence one of my country's elections for its own gain, I am outraged. The amount of effort or money spent is quite immaterial to me.

You need to step back for a minute. Think about a scenario where Russia actually did influence our elections. Do you think the response would be this passive? All of this Russia talk is a farce. If Russia actually interfered with US elections, the US response would be awe inspiring.

So what you're saying is: we shouldn't react to this news, because Russia didn't actually influence our election... and we know Russia didn't actually influence our election, because we didn't react?

That's... impressively circular.

Re: Russia used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over Black Lives Matter, Muslims

#106

Post by mcphage »

chokolad wrote: post #75
hackinthebochs wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This started as "Russia hacked the election" and now we are talking about I guess you missed the news about their attempted and successful intrusions into state election databases?

> I guess you missed the news about their attempted and successful intrusions into state election databases? I did miss the news where Russians successfully manipulated results in those databases. Can you provide me some links, please?

You're saying they didn't inhale?

Re: Russia used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over Black Lives Matter, Muslims

#107

Post by mcphage »

PathToHumble wrote: post #28

This started as "Russia hacked the election" and now we are talking about Russia taking out ads in support of BLM claiming its a psyop? At what point do people just accept the fact that Trump won a democratic election, racists voting or not. The actual campaigns took out billions of $ in ads and campaign ads are never honest, accurate or logical. Who cares about $100k in Russian ads?

> At what point do people just accept the fact that Trump won a democratic election, racists voting or not.

The more this is investigated, the less like a democratic election this looks. So tell me: at what point will you accept that fact that the election Trump won was not a democratic election?

Re: Russia used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over Black Lives Matter, Muslims

#108

Post by mistermann »

xienze wrote: post #40
balls187 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps the $100k was just the Russian government experimenting, and the real dollar values were funneled through shell organizations, or more sinister--with full knowledge and support of the Trump campaign.

Uh huh. But again, why would they not bother covering their tracks at all?

Logic is not a requirement for Russian conspiracy theory claims.

Re: Russia used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over Black Lives Matter, Muslims

#110

Post by chokolad »

hackinthebochs wrote: post #86
chokolad wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I guess you missed the news about their attempted and successful intrusions into state election databases? I did miss the news where Russians successfully manipulated results in those databases. Can you provide me some links, please?

No, there hasn't been any hard evidence that records were manipulated (AFAIK). But I don't see how our response should be substantively different knowing they altered records vs. just having had access to the databases.

> But I don't see how our response should be substantively different knowing they altered records vs. just having had access to the databases.

Well, you claimed that Russians hacked our elections, when there is no hard evidence they did. I'm not sure why you had to resort to lying.

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