Russians Used Racial Propaganda on FaceBook to Create Division
Investigations into Russian bought Facebook ads reveal how they used racist propaganda to stoke flames of anger and hate and create division. The Russians used images of Black people with guns to show Blacks as militant and a danger to society. The Russians seem to have sought to manipulate fears and prejudices of white Americans by showing images of angry looking black people with phrasing that some how denoted support for Hillary Clinton or Black Lives Matter.
None of this really comes as a surprise when you think about it. There has been a bubbling cauldron of racial tension in the United States pretty much since before the Civil War. If the goal is to divide the country using race was a no brainer. The United States has never dealt with the issue of race and the impact of slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation. While the Civil Rights movement addressed some of the issues legally, the actual social/political/economic/ and even emotional impact has never been truly dealt with on a mass scale.
Racism, prejudice, insensitivity, lack of knowledge, and self segregation allow animosity and hate to fester among all groups especially Blacks and Whites in the center of the racial divide. With the multitude of negative thoughts and feelings among large percentages of the population, very little is required to spark racist and angry anti-black or anti-white speech on social media or in the comment section of on online magazine.
Just because there is a picture with words typed on it that moves you emotionally, it doesn’t mean the image is true or accurate. Spreading lies and misinformation is a quick why to destroy a civil society, which means as citizens of Earth we all have an obligation to not participate in such behaviors. If you see something that is inaccurate or untrue, call it out. If you are unsure of the veracity of something, look it up, there is a lot of accurate information out there, use it to your advantage. To that same point, read, verify, then comment. So often people react immediately to what they see online and on social media without thinking about the plausibility or accuracy. At the very least, read the story not just the headline and then determine the appropriate reaction.
One of the Russian-bought advertisements that Facebook shared with congressional investigators on Monday featured photographs of an armed black woman “dry firing” a rifle — pulling the trigger of the weapon without a bullet in the chamber, according to people familiar with the investigation.
Investigators believe the advertisement may have been designed to encourage African American militancy and, at the same time, to stoke fears within white communities, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the probe. But the precise purpose of the ad remains unclear to investigators, the people said.
The apparent tactic underscores how the Russians used U.S.-based technology platforms to target Americans with highly tailored and sometimes-contradictory messages to exploit divisions in American society over the past two years.
The ad was among more than 3,000 Facebook ads delivered to congressional investigators that the company says were bought by 470 accounts and pages controlled by a Russian troll farm, the Internet Research Agency, based in St. Petersburg.
The full universe of words and images in those ads has not yet been made public, but early glimpses reported in The Washington Post and other news outlets showed that the Russian campaign frequently sought to widen existing fractures in American society, while also helping to boost Republican Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Among the other Facebook ads shared with lawmakers are those featuring photos of Hillary Clinton behind what appear to be prison bars. This echoed calls by Trump and his supporters during campaign events to “Lock Her Up” — imprison Clinton for using a private email server while she was secretary of state.
The Russian disinformation campaign included ads with harsh language and imagery about illegal immigrants. Others highlighted civil rights groups such as Black Lives Matter and support among Muslim voters for Clinton.
“These ads are racist propaganda, pure and simple,” said Malkia Cyril, a Black Lives Matter activist in Oakland, Calif., and executive director for the nonprofit Center for Media Justice. “Whether they appear to be in support or in opposition to black civil rights is irrelevant. Their aim is to subvert democracy for everyone by using anti-black stereotypes — an idea as old as America.”
The tools developed by Facebook and other American companies in recent years have given advertisers unprecedented power to identify people susceptible to their messages and to repeatedly deliver targeted advertisements to them over weeks or months as they browse the Internet.
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
