https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-6-2024
"One of the things that came to light on Wednesday, in the paperwork the
Justice Department unveiled to explain its seizure of 32 internet domains being
used by Russian agents in foreign malign influence campaigns, was that the six
right-wing U.S. influencers mentioned in the indictments of the Russian
operatives are only the tip of the iceberg.
Since at least 2022, three Russian companies working with the Kremlin have been
trying to change foreign politics in a campaign they called “Doppelganger,”
covertly spreading Russian government propaganda. “[F]irst and foremost,” notes
from a meeting with Russian officials about targeting Germany read, “we need to
discredit the USA, Great Britain, and NATO.” Through fake social media
profiles, their operatives posed as Americans or other non-Russians, seeding
public conversations with Russian propaganda.
In August 2023 they launched the “Good Old USA Project” to target swing-state
residents, online gamers, American Jews, and “US citizens of Hispanic descent”
to reelect Donald Trump. "They are afraid of losing the American way of life
and the ‘American dream,’” one of the propagandists wrote. “It is these
sentiments that should be exploited in the course of an information campaign
in/for the United States.” Using targeted ads on Facebook, they could see how
their material was landing and use bots and trolls to push their narrative in
comment sections.
“In order for this work to be effective, you need to use a minimum of fake news
and a maximum of realistic information,” the propagandists told their staff.
“At the same time, you should continuously repeat that this is what is really
happening, but the official media will never tell you about it or show it to
you.”
According to the documents, one of the three companies, Social Design Agency
(SDA), monitors and collects information about media organizations and social
media influencers. It collected a list of 1,900 “anti-influencers,” whose
accounts posted material SDA workers thought operated against Russian
interests. About 26% of those accounts were based in the U.S.
SDA also identified as pro-Russian influencers more than 2,800 people in 81
countries operating on various social media platforms like X, Facebook, and
Telegram. Those influencers included “television and radio hosts, politicians,
bloggers, journalists, businessmen, professors, think-tank analysts, veterans,
professors, and comedians.” About 21% of those influencers were in the U.S."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
