The Mueller investigation was primarily into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Much of the discussion in the report about that interference is redacted.
We can expect the same in the runup to the 2020 election. That means starting now.
What Russia is doing cannot entirely be dealt with by those in political power (those who want to, anyway) or those in network power (same). And it’s not just Russia, it’s China, North Korea, Iran, and some 400-pound dude in his mother’s basement. We all have to be responsible consumers and distributors of information on the internet.
This is going to be one of my themes. Today I found a particularly good Twitter thread, which I’ll put into a more narrative form. The thread has gifs that I won’t drag in, so if you like that sort of thing, check out the link.
1/ Finished Reading the
#MuellerReport. I want to highlight 3 things in the report and how they relate to the IRA (Senate data set) investigation that I was part of last year:2/ #1 In the “Tactics and Tropes of the Internet Research Agency” report, it was important to me to focus on the *infiltration of movements & activation of Americans* who were identified and targeted. The Mueller report does that as well, noting repeated outreach via Messenger.
3/ From both far-left/far-right press there’s been an ongoing “haha it was just some stupid memes” line.
No.
The IRA went far beyond what a “social media agency” does. It leveraged techniques used by intelligence pros to target Americans, develop trust, get ppl to take action.
4/ When we think about how disinformation will spread in 2020, this kind of engagement with real, aligned Americans will likely be a big part of it. It’s hard to identify this kind of activity.
6/ Point #2: IRL events. We've known about the Events for a long time but a few people were interested in the Confederate rally mentioned specifically in the report. Here's the visual for the Houston Confederate rally post in the footnote. I'll write more ab events later today. pic.twitter.com/aZ1GkAhr0S
— Renee DiResta (@noUpside) April 19, 2019
7/ There were dozens of formal FB Events but they also occasionally put random event promos into Insta posts. There were tons of community events promoted on Black-community targeted FB pages. Instigating in-the-street action is another thing I would expect more of for 2020;
8/The Mueller report did a great job describing how the IRA prioritized getting people out into the street, carefully monitored results, had ppl take photos, etc. That’s bc it’s an important part of their operation. News coverage + incendiary images lead to emotional engagement.
9/ Point #3: Influencer manipulation. This is another tactic we wrote ab in the Tactics & Tropes report. Many Trump campaign accounts retweeted IRA sockpuppets. Not mentioned in the Mueller report: the celebrity accounts, journalists, etc that also retweeted this stuff.
11/ The idea that people are somehow immune to manipulation because they're influential or educated – not true. This is just human nature. It's confirmation bias, feelings of affinity.@SmarterEveryDay just did a great video on Twitter manipulation: https://t.co/RjHURSe8rK
— Renee DiResta (@noUpside) April 19, 2019
13/ The IRA also pushed lies and conspiracies about Seth Rich, amplifying Julian Assange. They – coincidentally I'm sure – ginned up new accounts to target Hillary Clinton just before the big October drop.
Post on that here: https://t.co/d6xA8R842F
— Renee DiResta (@noUpside) April 19, 2019
14/There are still ppl who don’t believe Russia did anything, or can’t separate “interference” from “collusion”; maybe the
#MuellerReport will help them accept that the GRU hacks & IRA influence op really happened.They did.
And whatever party you are, that should make you mad
15/ Thanks for reading this thread that was actually very short compared to other
#MuellerReport threads. 420.