Russia and Black Lives Matter

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The relationship between Russian intelligence services and the Black Lives Matter movement is a concern that emerged among scholars in the late 2010s who have researched Russian interference in United States elections. [1] [2] [3] Russian operatives associated with the Internet Research Agency (IRA) have engaged in an online campaign to both encourage support of and opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement. [4] [5]

Contents

Background

Soviet media has criticized racial inequality and violence in the United States since at least 1930s, often using this argument to deflect criticism aimed at the human rights abuses in the USSR, or to create a sense of false moral equivalency between the two states. Lynchings of African Americans were brought up as an embarrassing skeleton in the closet for the U.S., which the Soviets used as a form of rhetorical ammunition when reproached for their own economic and social failings. This became known as the "And you are lynching Negroes" argument, later described as whataboutism, and continued during the Cold War and beyond. [6] [7] [8] [9]

In the late 2010s, researchers found that increases in Russian disinformation activity on Twitter were correlated with increases in polarising conversations regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. [10] One such activity included Russian accounts mimicking Black Lives Matter activists, or supported issues central to the Black Lives Matter cause. [11] [12] Activities on Facebook include purchasing ads to promote Black Lives Matter. [13] Reporting by investigative journalists uncovered Russian links with Facebook pages promoting Black Lives Matter. [13] [14] In one instance, Russian activities on social media led to real-life protests on behalf of Black Lives Matter. [15]

Prior to this development, in 2010, a report commissioned for the United States Senate Intelligence Committee, the Russian firm Internet Research Agency was identified as creating social media accounts as part of a complex campaign to suppress the black American vote. However, subsequently, investigative journalists found that the Russian firm sought to promote the issue of Black Lives Matter in order to instigate mistrust in US law enforcement and political institutions. [16] While Russian operatives have engaged in an online campaign to encourage supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, their efforts also have included promoting opposition against the group, including inciting violence against the group's supporters. [4]

2016 US elections

According to scholars, Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections included the promotion of themes relating to Black Lives Matter, as well as the promotion of antagonism toward the movement. [4] [5] [17]

Russian operatives created hundreds of fake personas linked to social media accounts and began posting content that related to two different aspects of the Black Lives Matter movement. On one hand, posts promoted the Black Lives Matter cause by emphasising police brutality in the United States toward minority groups; on the other hand, other posts supported police divisions, strongly criticised any opposition to the police, and denounced the Black Lives Matter movement. In one instance, social media accounts used by Russia's Internet Research Agency simultaneously promoted opposing protests in New York City: one in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the other against it. [4] [18] In one case, Russian operatives even hired individuals to organise protests. [4] [19]

Researchers found that this interference campaign was performed with the following aims: to support Donald Trump's presidential campaign, to weaken Hillary Clinton's campaign, and to undermine public faith in the American democratic system and the electoral process. [4]

2020 US elections

According to scholars and American investigative journalists, Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections included the promotion of themes relating to Black Lives Matter. [20] [21] Often, the purpose of these actions included race-baiting. [22] In 2020, the Internet Research Agency had outsourced [23] to troll farms in Ghana and Nigeria, which created content for audiences on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, the majority of whom were in the United States. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic deceptions and media manipulation tactics to advance political, military, or commercial goals. Disinformation is implemented through attacks that "weaponize multiple rhetorical strategies and forms of knowing—including not only falsehoods but also truths, half-truths, and value judgements—to exploit and amplify culture wars and other identity-driven controversies."

"And you are lynching Negroes" is a catchphrase that describes or satirizes Soviet responses to US criticisms of Soviet human rights violations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Active measures</span> Term for the actions of political warfare conducted by the Soviet and Russian security services

Active measures is a term used to describe political warfare conducted by the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The term, which dates back to the 1920s, includes operations such as espionage, propaganda, sabotage and assassination, based on foreign policy objectives of the Soviet and Russian governments. Active measures have continued to be used by the administration of Vladimir Putin.

Russian web brigades, also called Russian trolls, Russian bots, Kremlinbots, or Kremlin trolls are state-sponsored anonymous Internet political commentators and trolls linked to the Government of Russia. Participants report that they are organized into teams and groups of commentators that participate in Russian and international political blogs and Internet forums using sockpuppets, social bots, and large-scale orchestrated trolling and disinformation campaigns to promote pro-Vladimir Putin and pro-Russian propaganda.

Philip N. Howard is a sociologist and communication researcher who studies the impact of information technologies on democracy and social inequality. He studies how new information technologies are used in both civic engagement and social control in countries around the world. He is Professor of Internet Studies at the Oxford Internet Institute and Balliol College at the University of Oxford. He was Director of the Oxford Internet Institute from March 2018 to March 26, 2021. He is the author of ten books, including New Media Campaigns and The Managed Citizen, The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, and Pax Technica: How the Internet of Things May Set Us Free or Lock Us Up. His latest book is Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives.

Whataboutism or whataboutery is a pejorative for the strategy of responding to an accusation with a counter-accusation instead of a defense of the original accusation.

State-sponsored Internet propaganda is Internet manipulation and propaganda that is sponsored by a state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Propaganda in Russia</span>

The propaganda of the Russian Federation promotes views, perceptions or agendas of the government. The media include state-run outlets and online technologies, and may involve using "Soviet-style 'active measures' as an element of modern Russian 'political warfare'". Notably, contemporary Russian propaganda promotes the cult of personality of Vladimir Putin and positive views of Soviet history. Russia has established a number of organizations, such as the Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russia's Interests, the Russian web brigades, and others that engage in political propaganda to promote the views of the Russian government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet Research Agency</span> Russian company engaged in online propaganda

The Internet Research Agency, also known as Glavset, and known in Russian Internet slang as the Trolls from Olgino or Kremlinbots, was a Russian company which was engaged in online propaganda and influence operations on behalf of Russian business and political interests. It was linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former Russian oligarch who was leader of the Wagner Group, and based in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

A troll farm or troll factory is an institutionalised group of internet trolls that seeks to interfere in political opinions and decision-making.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections</span>

The Russian government interfered in the 2016 United States elections with the goals of sabotaging the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, boosting the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, and increasing political and social discord in the United States. According to the U.S. intelligence community, the operation—code named Project Lakhta—was ordered directly by Russian president Vladimir Putin. The "hacking and disinformation campaign" to damage Clinton and help Trump became the "core of the scandal known as Russiagate". The 448-page Mueller Report, made public in April 2019, examined over 200 contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials but concluded that there was insufficient evidence to bring any conspiracy or coordination charges against Trump or his associates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Propaganda through media</span> Use of media for propaganda

Propaganda is a form of persuasion that is often used in media to further some sort of agenda, such as a personal, political, or business agenda, by evoking an emotional or obligable response from the audience. It includes the deliberate sharing of realities, views, and philosophies intended to alter behavior and stimulate people to act.

AK Trolls are anonymous political commentators and trolls on the internet, taking part in Internet manipulation in favor of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey. Most are aged between 20 and 25. The youth wing of the Justice and Development Party is presumed responsible for heading the web brigade, while TÜGVA members are also recruited. In 2020, Twitter Safety suspended and archived 7,340 accounts, including fake and compromised accounts tied to the group which pushed pro-AKP narratives, notably advocating for domestic support for the Turkish intervention in Syria as well as narratives critical of opposition parties CHP, the Good Party and HDP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clint Watts</span> Research fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute

Clint Watts is a senior fellow at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University and a Foreign Policy Research Institute fellow. He previously was an infantry officer in the United States Army, and was the Executive Officer of the Combating Terrorism Center at United States Military Academy at West Point (CTC). He became a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation where he served on the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). He has consulted for the FBI Counterterrorism Division (CTD) and FBI National Security Branch (NSB).

Euromaidan Press (EP) is an English-language news website launched in 2014 by contributors from Ukraine, sponsored by reader contributions and the International Renaissance Foundation. It shares its name with the Euromaidan movement in Ukraine. Registered as a non-governmental organization, EP's stated goal is to provide English-language material to those interested in Ukrainian topics such as business issues, the economy, military conflict, and tourism.

<i>Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President</i> 2018 book by Kathleen Hall Jamieson

Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President — What We Don't, Can't, and Do Know is the sixteenth book by Kathleen Hall Jamieson, published in October 2018 by Oxford University Press. The book concludes that Russia very likely delivered Trump's victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections</span>

Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections was a matter of concern at the highest level of national security within the United States government, in addition to the computer and social media industries. In 2020, the RAND Corporation was one of the first to release research describing Russia's playbook for interfering in U.S. elections, developed machine-learning tools to detect the interference, and tested strategies to counter Russian interference. In February and August 2020, United States Intelligence Community (USIC) experts warned members of Congress that Russia was interfering in the 2020 presidential election in then-President Donald Trump's favor. USIC analysis released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in March 2021 found that proxies of Russian intelligence promoted and laundered misleading or unsubstantiated narratives about Joe Biden "to US media organizations, US officials, and prominent US individuals, including some close to former President Trump and his administration." The New York Times reported in May 2021 that federal investigators in Brooklyn began a criminal investigation late in the Trump administration into possible efforts by several current and former Ukrainian officials to spread unsubstantiated allegations about corruption by Joe Biden, including whether they had used Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani as a channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections (July 2016 – election day)</span> Major events prior to Trumps inauguration

This is a timeline of events related to Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

Russian disinformation campaigns have occurred in many countries. For example, disinformation campaigns led by Yevgeny Prigozhin have been reported in several African countries. Russia, however, denies that it uses disinformation to influence public opinion.

Foreign rivals of the United States, mainly Russia and China, have attempted to weaken American race relations as a geopolitical strategy. This manipulation is primarily done through misinformation posted on social media, targeting mainly African-Americans and Asian-Americans. Russia's social media campaign was thought to have affected the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The practice can be traced back to propaganda efforts of the Soviet Union's Comintern in the 1920s.

References

  1. ↑ Jensen, Michael (September 24, 2018). "Russian Trolls and Fake News: Information or Identity Logics?". Journal of International Affairs. 71 (1.5): 115–124.
  2. ↑ Miller, D. T. (2019). Topics and emotions in Russian Twitter propaganda. First Monday.
  3. ↑ Linvill, Darren; Warren, Patrick. "That uplifting tweet you just shared? A Russian troll sent it". Rolling Stone . Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Aceves, W. J. (2018). Virtual Hatred: How Russia Tried to Start a Race War in the United States. Mich. J. Race & L., 24, 177.
  5. 1 2 Boyd, Ryan L.; Spangher, Alexander; Fourney, Adam; Nushi, Besmira; Ranade, Gireeja; Pennebaker, James; Horvitz, Eric. "Characterizing the Internet Research Agency's Social Media Operations During the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election using Linguistic Analyses". doi:10.31234/osf.io/ajh2q. S2CID   198187651.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ↑ Lucas, Edward (2009). The New Cold War: How the Kremlin Menaces Both Russia and the West. Bloomsbury Publishing. p.  307. ISBN   978-0-7475-9578-6. Castigated for the plight of Soviet Jews, they would complain with treacly sincerity about discrimination against American Blacks. (footnote: the accusation 'and you are lynching negroes' became a catchphrase epitomizing Soviet propaganda based on this principle.)
  7. ↑ Ioffe, Julia (March 2, 2014), "Kremlin TV Loves Anti-War Protests—Unless Russia Is the One Waging War - Studies in 'whataboutism'", The New Republic , archived from the original on September 22, 2015, retrieved December 17, 2016
  8. ↑ Quinn, Allison (November 27, 2014), "Soviet Propaganda Back in Play With Ferguson Coverage", The Moscow Times , archived from the original on January 30, 2016, retrieved December 17, 2016
  9. ↑ Ciment, James; Hill, Kenneth (1999), "Czechoslovakia: Soviet Invasion, 1968", Encyclopedia of Conflicts since World War II, Routledge, pp. 533–535, ISBN   978-1-57958-181-7
  10. ↑ Gallacher, J. D., & Heerdink, M. W. (2019). Measuring the effect of Russian Internet Research Agency information operations in online conversations. Defence Strategic Communications, 6.
  11. ↑ Walter, Dror; Ophir, Yotam; Jamieson, Kathleen Hall (2020). "Russian Twitter Accounts and the Partisan Polarization of Vaccine Discourse, 2015–2017". American Journal of Public Health. 110 (5): 718–724. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2019.305564. PMC   7144436 . PMID   32191516.
  12. ↑ Linvill, Darren L.; Boatwright, Brandon C.; Grant, Will J.; Warren, Patrick L. (2019). ""THE RUSSIANS ARE HACKING MY BRAIN!" investigating Russia's internet research agency twitter tactics during the 2016 United States presidential campaign". Computers in Human Behavior. 99: 292–300. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2019.05.027. S2CID   191765436.
  13. 1 2 Isaac, Mike; Shane, Scott (October 2, 2017). "Facebook's Russia-linked ads came in many disguises". The New York Times .
  14. ↑ Institute, Zach Dorfman of the Aspen (June 10, 2020). "Why Russia will keep poking America's racial wounds into the 2020 election". Axios.
  15. ↑ Frenkel, Sheera (August 14, 2018). "How a Fake Group on Facebook Created Real Protests (Published 2018)". The New York Times.
  16. ↑ "Targeting Black Americans, Russia's IRA Exploited Racial Wounds". Wired– via www.wired.com.
  17. ↑ Amber Jamieson, (2016). Anti-Beyonce Protest Countered by Black Lives Matter Demonstration, THE GUARDIAN (Feb. 16, 2016).
  18. ↑ Jamieson, Amber (February 16, 2016). "Anti-Beyonce Protest Countered by Black Lives Matter Demonstration". The Guardian . Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  19. ↑ Indictment at 20-23, United States v. Internet Research Agency, No. 18-cr00032-DLF (D.D.C. Feb. 16, 2018), 2018 WL 91477
  20. ↑ Švedkauskas, Žilvinas; Sirikupt, Chonlawit; Salzer, Michel. "Analysis | Russia's disinformation campaigns are targeting African Americans" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  21. ↑ Polyakova, A. (2020). The Kremlin's Plot against Democracy: How Russia Updated Its 2016 Playbook for 2020. Foreign Aff., 99, 140.
  22. ↑ Johnson, D. E. (2019). "Russian Election Interference and Race-Baiting". Columbia Journal of Race and Law. 9: 191. SSRN   3426826.
  23. ↑ Kao, Craig Silverman,Jeff. "Infamous Russian Troll Farm Appears to Be Source of Anti-Ukraine Propaganda". ProPublica. Retrieved September 7, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ↑ EXCLUSIVE: By Clarissa Ward, Katie Polglase, Sebastian Shukla, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Tim Lister (March 12, 2020). "How Russian meddling is back before 2020 vote". CNN. Retrieved September 7, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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