Report: Far-Right News Sites Under Investigation Over Possible Russia Link
- 7 years ago
The FBI is reportedly looking into the possibility that far-right news sites may have played a role in Russia’s effort to sway the recent election, according to McClatchy.
The FBI is reportedly looking into the possibility that far-right news sites may have played a role in Russia’s effort to sway the recent election.
According to McClatchy, which reported the story based on inside sources, the inquiry centers around “bots,” which the news source says are computer commands that “operatives for Russia appear to have strategically timed...to blitz social media with links to the pro-Trump stories at times when the billionaire businessman was on the defensive in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton.”
As the piece explains, “The bots’ end products were largely millions of Twitter and Facebook posts carrying links to stories on conservative internet sites such as Breitbart News and InfoWars, as well as on the Kremlin-backed RT News and Sputnik News...Some of the stories were false or mixed fact and fiction.”
In mid-November, a New York Times report said, based on an Oxford University study, that “an automated army of pro-Donald J. Trump chatbots overwhelmed similar programs supporting Hillary Clinton five to one in the days leading up to the presidential election.”
According to the media outlet, Philip N. Howard, one of the paper’s authors, indicated that the goal of these streams was “to rant, confuse people on facts, or simply muddy discussions.”
A part of this federal investigation is said to be trying to determine whether the news sites that were identified acted in assisting the dissemination or if they even knew it was happening.
An editor for a major news website has questioned the move’s potential impact on journalism.
David Mastio, deputy editorial page editor for USA Today tweeted in response to McClatchy’s report, “Am I the only one who thinks an FBI counter-intel investigation of Breitbart is a dangerous move for press freedom?”
The FBI is reportedly looking into the possibility that far-right news sites may have played a role in Russia’s effort to sway the recent election.
According to McClatchy, which reported the story based on inside sources, the inquiry centers around “bots,” which the news source says are computer commands that “operatives for Russia appear to have strategically timed...to blitz social media with links to the pro-Trump stories at times when the billionaire businessman was on the defensive in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton.”
As the piece explains, “The bots’ end products were largely millions of Twitter and Facebook posts carrying links to stories on conservative internet sites such as Breitbart News and InfoWars, as well as on the Kremlin-backed RT News and Sputnik News...Some of the stories were false or mixed fact and fiction.”
In mid-November, a New York Times report said, based on an Oxford University study, that “an automated army of pro-Donald J. Trump chatbots overwhelmed similar programs supporting Hillary Clinton five to one in the days leading up to the presidential election.”
According to the media outlet, Philip N. Howard, one of the paper’s authors, indicated that the goal of these streams was “to rant, confuse people on facts, or simply muddy discussions.”
A part of this federal investigation is said to be trying to determine whether the news sites that were identified acted in assisting the dissemination or if they even knew it was happening.
An editor for a major news website has questioned the move’s potential impact on journalism.
David Mastio, deputy editorial page editor for USA Today tweeted in response to McClatchy’s report, “Am I the only one who thinks an FBI counter-intel investigation of Breitbart is a dangerous move for press freedom?”