Washington Post: Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say
The flood of “fake news” this election season got support from a sophisticated Russian propaganda campaign that created and spread misleading articles online with the goal of punishing Democrat Hillary Clinton, helping Republican Donald Trump and undermining faith in American democracy, say independent researchers who tracked the operation.
Russia’s increasingly sophisticated propaganda machinery — including thousands of botnets, teams of paid human “trolls,” and networks of websites and social-media accounts — echoed and amplified right-wing sites across the Internet as they portrayed Clinton as a criminal hiding potentially fatal health problems and preparing to hand control of the nation to a shadowy cabal of global financiers. The effort also sought to heighten the appearance of international tensions and promote fear of looming hostilities with nuclear-armed Russia.
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Update: Report: Russian propaganda efforts propelled fake election news (The Hill)
WNU Editor: This is rich .... the main stream media claiming that fake news (especially from Russia) has an impact that can surpass and overwhelm what the major TV networks, New York Times/Washington Post, wire services (Reuters, AP, etc.), social media platforms of the candidates and the political parties, Google/Facebook/Twitter, and finally .... even the U.S. government .... can deliver to the American public in the form of news. That the American public are too stupid to know the difference .... and because they are too stupid someone must now step up to decide what web sites should be banned?!?!?! Are you kidding me?!?!?! Especially after this election cycle where the biases and corruption of the main stream media have been revealed. Sighhhh .... I just cannot make this stuff up.
Update: The EU parliament now wants to jump onto this bandwagon .... EU Parliament Urges Fight Against Russia's 'Fake News' (RFE).
