Post by ck4829 on Aug 8, 2017 9:36:14 GMT
Russian-linked bots and trolls have caused a surge in use of the hashtag #ResignPaulRyan on Twitter over the last 48 hours, just as the Republican speaker of the House was returning to his hometown of Wisconsin for a month-long respite from Washington, D.C.
The unusual boost in Russian bots targeting a Republican lawmaker was first observed by the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance For Securing Democracy, created after the 2016 presidential election to “defend against, deter, and raise the costs on Russian and other state actors’ efforts to undermine democracy and democratic institutions.”
A monitoring dashboard established by the Alliance noted the uptick Monday morning. It coincided with surges in the use of other hashtags by Russian bots, including #TrumpTV, #Magnitsky, #Fake and #ConfessYourUnpopularOpinion.
It hasn’t been a common occurrence for the Alliance’s dashboard to pick up on Russian bot activity targeting members of the GOP since the site was first launched last week by former FBI special agent Clint Watts. But Ryan wasn’t the only member of Trump’s party to face countless bots demanding his removal. A campaign calling on the president to fire National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster received widespread support from bots and trolls over the last several days using the hashtag #FireMcMaster, eventually getting picked up by some right-wing fake news sites that seem to have the president’s full attention, including Breitbart.
Read more: www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/russian-bots-are-starting-to-attack-republican-party/ar-AApCXI2?li=BBnbcA1
The unusual boost in Russian bots targeting a Republican lawmaker was first observed by the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance For Securing Democracy, created after the 2016 presidential election to “defend against, deter, and raise the costs on Russian and other state actors’ efforts to undermine democracy and democratic institutions.”
A monitoring dashboard established by the Alliance noted the uptick Monday morning. It coincided with surges in the use of other hashtags by Russian bots, including #TrumpTV, #Magnitsky, #Fake and #ConfessYourUnpopularOpinion.
It hasn’t been a common occurrence for the Alliance’s dashboard to pick up on Russian bot activity targeting members of the GOP since the site was first launched last week by former FBI special agent Clint Watts. But Ryan wasn’t the only member of Trump’s party to face countless bots demanding his removal. A campaign calling on the president to fire National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster received widespread support from bots and trolls over the last several days using the hashtag #FireMcMaster, eventually getting picked up by some right-wing fake news sites that seem to have the president’s full attention, including Breitbart.
Read more: www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/russian-bots-are-starting-to-attack-republican-party/ar-AApCXI2?li=BBnbcA1