Quote:

Far from exposing a sophisticated propaganda campaign, the reports provide more evidence that the Russians were actually engaging in clickbait capitalism: targeting unique demographics like African Americans or evangelicals in a bid to attract large audiences for commercial purposes.

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Quote:

What do you think Russians are trying to do when they create and post shit like this

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The Ecstatic said:

Personally I don’t give a shit if Exxon is buying ads to influence me or if another country does it. Nobody seems to gives a shit about AIPAC going directly after progressive democrats in primary elections, spending millions of dollars to tilt elections away from people who aren’t adequately pro-Israel.

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koods said:

He won’t answer the question directly because even he is too embarrassed to actually try to convince us that a meme showing Hillary shaking Osama Bin Laden hands is intended to make money and isn’t trying to influence voters.

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That's exactly what I just said it's intended to do. 

Falcon91Wolvrn03 said:

koods said:

He won’t answer the question directly because even he is too embarrassed to actually try to convince us that a meme showing Hillary shaking Osama Bin Laden hands is intended to make money and isn’t trying to influence voters.

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That's exactly what I just said it's intended to do. 

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koods said:

Falcon91Wolvrn03 said:

koods said:

He won’t answer the question directly because even he is too embarrassed to actually try to convince us that a meme showing Hillary shaking Osama Bin Laden hands is intended to make money and isn’t trying to influence voters.

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That's exactly what I just said it's intended to do. 

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I don’t believe you are dumb enough to believe that.

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koods said:

Falcon91Wolvrn03 said:

koods said:

He won’t answer the question directly because even he is too embarrassed to actually try to convince us that a meme showing Hillary shaking Osama Bin Laden hands is intended to make money and isn’t trying to influence voters.

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That's exactly what I just said it's intended to do. 

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I don’t believe you are dumb enough to believe that.

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Bigbadwooof said:

If Russia were really serious about trying to influence our election, don't you think they would have put a bit more effort ($) into it?

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Quote:

Falcon91Wolvrn03 said:

New Studies Show Pundits Are Wrong About Russian Social-Media Involvement in US Politics

Quote:

Far from being a sophisticated propaganda campaign, it was small, amateurish, and mostly unrelated to the 2016 election.

The release of two Senate-commissioned reports has sparked a new round of panic about Russia manipulating a vulnerable American public on social media.

“The studies,” writes David Ignatius of The Washington Post, “describe a sophisticated, multilevel Russian effort to use every available tool of our open society to create resentment, mistrust and social disorder,” demonstrating that the Russians, “thanks to the Internet…seem to be perfecting these dark arts.” According to Michelle Goldberg of The New York Times, “it looks increasingly as though” Russian disinformation “changed the direction of American history” in the narrowly decided 2016 election, when “Russian trolling easily could have made the difference.”

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However, 'The Nation' looked at the data in the report above and concluded that "on every significant metric, it is difficult to square the data with the dramatic conclusions that have been drawn."

- Political content was just 11% of the total content attributed to the Internet Research Agency (IRA)
- Only 7% of IRA's Facebook posts mentioned Trump or Clinton by name
- IRA’s Facebook spending between 2015 and 2017 was $73,711; $46,000 of which was spent on Facebook ads before the 2016 election
    (vs $81 million spent on Facebook ads by the Clinton and Trump campaigns)
- Russian-linked accounts spent $4,700 on Google ads

Quote:

The reports provide more evidence that the Russians were engaging in clickbait capitalism: targeting unique demographics to attract large audiences for commercial purposes.

Based on all of this data, we can draw this picture of Russian social-media activity: It was mostly unrelated to the 2016 election; microscopic in reach, engagement, and spending; and juvenile or absurd in its content.

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Much more in the article about what a nothing burger Russia Gate really was.

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Falcon91Wolvrn03 said:

koods said:

Falcon91Wolvrn03 said:

koods said:

He won’t answer the question directly because even he is too embarrassed to actually try to convince us that a meme showing Hillary shaking Osama Bin Laden hands is intended to make money and isn’t trying to influence voters.

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That's exactly what I just said it's intended to do. 

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I don’t believe you are dumb enough to believe that.

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Why don't you tell me what you think that ad is intended to do?

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Falcon91Wolvrn03 said:

Bigbadwooof said:

If Russia were really serious about trying to influence our election, don't you think they would have put a bit more effort ($) into it?

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For sure.  Check out this thread to see how little effort they put into it (here's just a small outtake):

Quote:

Falcon91Wolvrn03 said:

New Studies Show Pundits Are Wrong About Russian Social-Media Involvement in US Politics

Quote:

Far from being a sophisticated propaganda campaign, it was small, amateurish, and mostly unrelated to the 2016 election.

The release of two Senate-commissioned reports has sparked a new round of panic about Russia manipulating a vulnerable American public on social media.

“The studies,” writes David Ignatius of The Washington Post, “describe a sophisticated, multilevel Russian effort to use every available tool of our open society to create resentment, mistrust and social disorder,” demonstrating that the Russians, “thanks to the Internet…seem to be perfecting these dark arts.” According to Michelle Goldberg of The New York Times, “it looks increasingly as though” Russian disinformation “changed the direction of American history” in the narrowly decided 2016 election, when “Russian trolling easily could have made the difference.”

---

However, 'The Nation' looked at the data in the report above and concluded that "on every significant metric, it is difficult to square the data with the dramatic conclusions that have been drawn."

- Political content was just 11% of the total content attributed to the Internet Research Agency (IRA)
- Only 7% of IRA's Facebook posts mentioned Trump or Clinton by name
- IRA’s Facebook spending between 2015 and 2017 was $73,711; $46,000 of which was spent on Facebook ads before the 2016 election
    (vs $81 million spent on Facebook ads by the Clinton and Trump campaigns)
- Russian-linked accounts spent $4,700 on Google ads

Quote:

The reports provide more evidence that the Russians were engaging in clickbait capitalism: targeting unique demographics to attract large audiences for commercial purposes.

Based on all of this data, we can draw this picture of Russian social-media activity: It was mostly unrelated to the 2016 election; microscopic in reach, engagement, and spending; and juvenile or absurd in its content.

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Much more in the article about what a nothing burger Russia Gate really was.

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koods said:

Well first off, it’s not an ad. it’s a meme. There’s nothing being sold and I’ve never seen a clickable meme before, so it’s stand alone, intended to be shared and speaks for itself - Hillary had a friendly meeting with Osama Bin Laden.

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christopera said:

Meh, that article is missing and the other is 5 years old.

See how insightful that type of response is?

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