It has become clear that a Russian propaganda and misinformation operation has been affecting American media since at least 2016. Through this operation Russia hopes to create discord between Americans by creating social media posts about highly controversial topics or by posting misinformation through the use of deception. Through this discord, Russia hopes to be able to control American politics.
How it Works
Russia has been sreading tons of misinformation
on specific American social media sites and apps like
Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. Russian accounts made on
these sites are made to seem like American users in order
to decieve more people. Bot accounts are also used to decieve
people by posting false info thousands of times over. A main
objective of this huge spread of false info is to get on
American news networks where a reporter could pick up this
info and spread it to even more people under the name of a
reputable news network.
How To Get Good Info
One of the best ways to verify info you find online is by checking multiple, reputable sources and comparing if they are the same. If you are worried about whether or not an online account is actually American you can search through previous posts, activity and other accounts. If the account has multiple, repeated posts than it could be a bot. A generally good rule to have while on the internet is to just be skeptical of anything you read and to do your own research.
