A new batch of 3,000-plus Kremlin-backed social media ads released by House Democrats reinforce reporting that the main goal of Russia's 2016 infiltration efforts was to intensify social divisions among U.S. voters by spreading incendiary propaganda. The ads targeted the extremes on both the right and the left, but it's no surprise that Fox News connoisseurs were a main target of the ads produced by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), the Russian outfit that spearheaded the effort. NBC News writes:
The ads provide a deeper understanding of Russia’s use of social media to spread propaganda on divisive topics, which included pushing anti-immigrant messages to fans of specific Fox News personalities such as Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, and buying batches of ads immediately after a mass shooting at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Some of the most divisive ads capitalized on the political movement Black Lives Matter and hot button political issues including immigration, gun control, the religion of Islam, and LGBT-centric topics. The ads also promoted events organized by Americans who were unaware their political rallies and protests were being fueled by a Russian disinformation campaign.
Some 3.7 million users clicked on the IRA ads, according to Facebook's statistics. The ads released Thursday were seen by over 33 million users. Speaking to Congress last month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said 126 million Facebook users saw content by Russian disinformation campaigns.
In particular on the left, a Russian account called BlackMatters used the tragic shooting of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, SC, to attract fans and then went on to pillory the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.
In the months before the election, BlackMatters would use that same page to push the message shared by almost all of the accounts: pleading with Facebook users not to support Hillary Clinton.
“You know, a great number of black people support us saying that #HillaryClintonlsNotMyPresident! So this time we would like to make a #flashmob against #HillaryClinton because she is the real enemy of black community and our followers prove it showing their disgrace to her personality and policy,” one Black Matters post reads.
Of course, that was just one instance of what was a widespread and pervasive misinformation campaign that has since yielded the indictments of 13 Russians for their efforts to intervene in the election.