Fake Black Activist Accounts are reportedly linked to the Russian Government
The Russian government is linked to a widely followed social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter titled “Blacktivist”, in an apparent effort to amplify racial tensions during the U.S. presidential election.
The “Blacktivist” accounts are the latest of multiple evidence that point to the Kremlin’s attempts to use social media in order to influence the election. More details on such efforts have started to unveil after Facebook announced last week that “inauthentic” accounts with Russian ties purchased more than $100,000 worth of political ads, and consequently turned over the information to Congress.
According to reporting by the CNN, the Facebook and Twitter accounts both employed the handle “Blacktivist” and regularly shared videos of police brutality against African Americans, coupled with calls for “black people to wake up as soon as possible”.
In other instances, the pages advertised rallies and demonstrations around the country, including the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party and a march in Baltimore commemorating the death of Freddie Gray, an event also covered by the Russian-government sponsored RT. Targeted ads were also employed to reach the cities of Ferguson and Baltimore, where police brutality against African-Americans had caused violent protests and disorder.
Earlier this week, Business Insider reported that Russia-linked Facebook pages like SecuredBorders attempted to mobilize anti-immigrant mobs in Texas and Idaho. But beyond reaffirming allegations that Russian-backed campaigns highlighted polarizing issues like immigration or race, the inauthentic Black activist accounts reveal that the Russians targeted both sides of the American political spectrum, and not just the far-right as is often assumed.
They also give an insight on the magnitude and reach of such campaigns — the accounts garnered an impressive following, with more than 360,000 likes on Facebook, considerably more than the verified “Black Lives Matter” page.
Despite astounding evidence and the consensus of the US intelligence community, the impact of the Russian misinformation campaign on the presidential race has been the subject of intense debate. For his part, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg initially disputed the idea, despite a warning by President Obama the night after the election to consider the matter seriously. In November, he reportedly told a tech conference, “Personally, I think the idea that fake news on Facebook, which is a very small amount of content, influenced the election is a pretty crazy idea.”
But shortly after the election, research by media analysts documented that false stories dominated public discourse in social media platforms. The graph below, which visualizes data collated by BuzzFeed using its content analysis tool, shows that in the three-month period before Election Day, four out of the top five most-engaged-with stories from Facebook were false.
Last week, Zuckerberg appeared to modify his sentiment in a live broadcast on his Facebook page. “Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it. This is too important an issue to be dismissive.” he wrote, adding however a spirited defense of Facebook’s role in helping give more people a voice during the election.
According to CNN, the Blacktivist page is merely one of more than 470 Russian-linked Facebook accounts posting inflammatory content that were identified by the social media network and disclosed to Congress earlier this month. More details are expected to surface in the coming days, as Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s election interference continues to investigate whether Moscow colluded with President Trump’s campaign team.
Meanwhile, the Blacktivist Facebook page appears to have been deactivated