
Facebook reveals Russian troll content, shuts down 135 IRA accounts - cctt23
https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/03/facebook-russia/
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gabept
> Facebook has removed 70 Facebook accounts, 138 Facebook Pages, and 65
> Instagram accounts run by the Russian government-connected troll farm and
> election interference squad the Internet Research Agency

This looks like a fairly small amount of accounts.

~~~
hbosch
Small # of accounts, but massive amounts of followers/viewers. Kylie Jenner
has a "fairly small amount of accounts" (ie _one_ ) on Twitter, but a single
tweet can send a company's stock into the red[0].

0\. [http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/22/technology/snapchat-
update-k...](http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/22/technology/snapchat-update-kylie-
jenner/index.html)

~~~
dmix
Don't these 'troll' accounts mostly have fake followers though? What reach
could 76 accounts with mostly fake followers/likes really have on the world?

They most certainly arent anywhere near Kylie Jenner level so Im not sure what
that has to do with this.

But I guess no one involved (media, FB) wants this story to be any less
newsworthy so I doubt we'll ever have an answer...

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wohlergehen
IRA = Internet Research Agency for those confused by the title, i.e. the
russian "troll" company.

~~~
petepete
Thanks for this.

Reusing already-prominent acronyms gets really confusing although I know often
it's unintentional.

Many Americans won't know who the IRA were/are, but in the UK (and probably
the rest of Europe) it's common knowledge and burnt in.

~~~
PHGamer
id say middle age and older people would. they were shown in various movies
during the 90s but yea. younger people probably think of the IRA savings
account.

~~~
apotheothesomai
We middle-aged folks also remember some big bombing incidents executed by the
IRA. The IRA is still referenced in the news now and then.

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jerkstate
Are we ever going to see any of the controversial posts and ads that
supposedly influenced the US election? I don't see anything US politics or
election related in the samples they showed.

~~~
mturmon
This is readily searchable, but here is an example:

[http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/01/media/russian-facebook-
ads-r...](http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/01/media/russian-facebook-ads-release-
house-intelligence-committee/index.html)

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nym
Is Facebook notifying the affected people that they had viewed fabricated
news, or just releasing press releases?

~~~
jerkstate
Does any of this content qualify as "fabricated news" ? Can you point out what
you mean by that?

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ProAm
This is too little too late for Facebook. They are just trying to save as much
face as possible now.

~~~
timkpaine
It remains to be seen whether these scandals will have any real effect in the
long run. Facebook grew to be a behemoth, now it seems almost "too big to
fail".

~~~
stephenitis
What would happen if it failed?

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blitmap
Seems like a fairly small number for removing propaganda/state influence..

[https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9233-uncovering_british_spies_we...](https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9233-uncovering_british_spies_web_of_sockpuppet_social_media_personas)

~~~
bitumen
People can exert a lot of influence with just one account, and in this case
it’s about 270 _so far_. You’d be surprised at how effective Sybil attacks are
with far fewer than a dozen accounts, never mind hundreds. When those accounts
build reputation, often assisted by more accounts, it’s even more powerful.
Still, the biggest advantage is that you get to probe your audience multiple
ways, then just go with what gains traction. The reputation of any one account
doesn’t matter, it’s a “team” effort.

So while you or I might care about what we say, try to build a reputation, and
in general say things in accordance with what we believe, they don’t have to.
It’s a radically different proposition, and devastating when done well. Even
being discovered can be its own kind of “win” if it creates distrust and
instability within the network itself. You can undermine faith in said network
by exposing it as essentially corrupted, albeit by you.

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moltar
From the provided sample content it appears to be rather harmless. Reminds me
of buzz feed style posts.

~~~
piracykills
Much of it seems to more be designed to sew discord between the parties than
to directly influence the election.

Mission accomplished I guess.

~~~
supergirl
“sow discord” is an overused meme thrown around by people who choose to not
form their own opinion but, instead, repeat what they read in the tabloids

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crummy
95% of 135 accounts operated in Russian-speaking countries? So this means
little in the context of alleged US election interference?

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cyberferret
Hmm, I guess I come from an older generation where mention of the "IRA" was a
whole different genre of terrorism...

~~~
delerio
Yeah, I always thought IRA was the main acronym for the "Irish Republican
Army". Weird that they used IRA in this article to mean something else. Has
the main association changed?

~~~
cyberferret
Currently, the association is for the "Internet Research Agency", which is the
formal company name for a purported Russian based professional trolling firm.

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tomc1985
I love how we're all falling for this Russian troll BS and not attacking
Facebook's business model of micro-targeting advertising

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dilyevsky
There were dozens of them! DOZENS!

