A Russian Experiment

One fine day in 2015 a large group of New Yorkers gathered near Time Square to attend a free hot-dog event. The excitement of the event vanished as the people soon realized that they would not be receiving free hot-dogs after all. But why did all these people show up at the same time with the idea that a free hot-dog was coming their way? Little did they know that the active Facebook account, which directed them to this location to receive free hot-dogs, was orchestrated thousands of miles away in Saint Petersburg, Russia. This new experiment turned out to be a test in which Russians were attempting to organize a live event in the United States. It worked.

     Later, in 2016, the trolls (internet jargon for people who intentionally upset people) created a “Heart of Texas” group that was supposedly based in Houston. This online group organized a rally to stop the “Islamization of Texas.” The Russians then created a counter-rally at the same time through a made-up group named “United Muslims of America.” The idea behind this was obvious in pitting two groups against each other in America. The Russian IRA (Internet Research Agency) has reached 126 million people on Facebook, has posted 10.4 million tweets on Twitter, uploaded more than 1,000 videos on Youtube, and has connected with more than 20 million users on Instagram. One of the IRA’s main efforts is to foment racial division in the United States. It creates content for black audiences while simultaneously amplifying white militia content. Toward the end of 2015 the IRA began producing videos. Ultimately, they produced 1,063 videos across 10 different channels related to Black Lives Matter and police brutality.

     Short Analysis: Russia uses our open democracy/current climate to spread disinformation in order to divide and undermine our society. So far, we have been taking the bait and doing the bulk of the work for them. Everybody from politicians, to journalists, to celebrities, and private citizens need to do their part in combating their efforts. Sharing any divisive material on social media is irresponsible and doing so without research and verification of facts is even worse. This pulls you and like-minded individuals further on your side, while pushing those with contrasting beliefs even further to their side. I know, they can be amusing and everything, but we should probably grow up at some point, especially if the things we are doing are hurting us collectively. Remember, we’re actually on the same team. And when was the last time you changed your belief system after someone directed a comment to you on Facebook? We got it pretty darn good here in the U.S.A…which is why we end up arguing or raising a stink over the dumbest things we can find. We actively seek out things we can use as propaganda about our political enemies, just to put it on Facebook. Isn’t that a ridiculous use of time and energy? That’s a rhetorical question.

     Oh, and when you see these things on social media, there is no need to comment and get yourself involved. I learned a lesson when I was around 10 years old. I was playing basketball with my older brother and cousin out at my grandparents, and admittedly so, I was being pretty annoying to them. At one point, my brother whispered something to my cousin and then didn’t pay any attention to me after that. I was still trying to annoy them, but they ignored me throughout until I finally became annoyed myself. They annoyed me because I couldn’t annoy them anymore. So, maybe if we apply that toward social media we’ll be in a better place. Ignore those posts and they won’t get the reaction they are looking for. An even simpler metaphor is when some kids set a burning bag of crap on your doorstep. If stomp on it, your foot will be covered in crap. If you just let it burn, it will fizzle out and the deviant little kids won’t get their satisfaction.   

     As far as disinformation goes, we cannot simply count everything as false just as we cannot count everything as true. We need to find a line between paranoia and gullibility. Those extremes are what Russian trolls feed off of and where they find the best opportunities to create chaos. There is a lot of “noise” online today, but do not give up on the facts. Control the emotions, verify information, and be mindful that the way we act online is being manipulated. Be diligent, intelligent, and responsible.