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Democracies across the West are vulnerable to foreign influence—and some are under attack.
Mike Conaway, the Republican who replaced Devin Nunes as head of the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election, has described his mission simply: “I just want to find out what happened,” he’s said. The more urgent question elsewhere in the world, however, isn’t confined to the past. It concerns what is happening—not just in the United States but in European democracies as well.
In the Netherlands, Dutch authorities counted paper ballots in a recent election by hand to prevent foreign governments—and Russia in particular—from manipulating the results through cyberattacks. In Denmark, the defense minister has accused the Russian government of carrying out a two-year campaign to infiltrate email accounts at his ministry. In the United Kingdom, a parliamentary committee reports that it cannot “rule out” the possibility that “foreign interference” caused a voter-registration site to crash ahead of Britain’s referendum on EU membership. And in France, a cybersecurity firm has just discovered that suspected Russian hackers are targeting the leading presidential candidate. “We are increasingly concerned about cyber-enabled interference in democratic political processes,” representatives from the Group of Seven—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.—declared after meeting in Italy earlier this month. Russia, a member of the group until it was kicked out for annexing Crimea, wasn’t mentioned in the statement. It didn’t need to be. The subtext was clear.
The Russian government has denied hacking these democracies, and in some cases the evidence for state-sponsored interference is very flimsy. There is no proof, for example, that the Brexit vote was marred by foreign cyberattacks. The voter-registration site was most likely downed by something much more mundane: a surge in visits from people hoping to … register to vote. If Russia really has been trying to shape the outcome of the French election, the impact so far appears minimal.
This story, moreover, is just as old as it is new. Foreign actors have sought to undermine democracies since Sparta’s King Cleomenes started meddling in the internal affairs of ancient Athens. (The king’s interventions were harder to deny, since they involved invading soldiers.) The United States has its own thorny history of messing with elections abroad.
What’s novel today is that 1) the Russian government does seem to have revived its Cold War-era “active measures” against the political systems of rival countries; 2) the digital era has afforded the Kremlin and other state and non-state actors new tools in such efforts, from phishing attacks against campaign staffers to fake news distributed through social media; 3) the targeted countries are especially vulnerable to this type of sabotage at the moment; and 4) targeted countries aren’t sure how to respond to this modern form of political warfare.
As the Russia expert Fiona Hill once told me, Vladimir Putin, in apparently ordering a campaign to hack and leak Democratic Party emails, didn’t create toxic partisanship or deep distrust of government in the United States. Instead, he exploited this political dysfunction by turning the strengths of an open, technologically advanced country into weaknesses. Barack Obama’s belated retaliation against Russia at the end of his presidency, and the beleaguered congressional investigations into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election, speak to the U.S. government’s profound struggles to process Putin’s challenge to the soft underbelly of contemporary democracy.
The latest front in this struggle is France, where the centrist internationalist Emmanuel Macron is facing the far-right nationalist Marine Le Pen in the second round of a presidential election. Le Pen, much like Donald Trump during the 2016 race, is a candidate with policies seemingly manufactured in a Kremlin laboratory. She has called for lifting sanctions against Russia, visited Putin in Moscow during the campaign, and taken out a loan from a Russian bank. Whereas Macron supports the European Union and NATO, which Russia views as threats to its power in the region, Le Pen opposes both blocs.
In February, Macron’s campaign reported thousands of attempted hacks of its computer servers and accused Russian state media outlets of spreading slanders about Macron, including an article in Sputnik—headlined “Ex-French Economy Minister Macron Could Be ‘US Agent’ Lobbying Banks Interests” and based on an interview with a pro-Russia French lawmaker—that aired rumors about Macron’s sexual orientation and personal life. (The Russian government makes its interests known in France not just through media outlets, but also through longstanding organizations like the Franco-Russian Dialogue that tap into pro-Russian/anti-American sentiment among segments of the French electorate, especially on the far right.)
This week brought fresh evidence of Russian mischief. On Tuesday, the security company Trend Micro reported that Macron’s campaign had been hit by cyberattacks in March and April. The hackers’ techniques resembled those employed against the Democratic National Committee in the United States and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union in Germany, which holds elections this fall. The phishing attacks, which seem to have failed, were aimed at gaining access to the email accounts of Macron’s staffers. “We cannot say for sure whether this was directed by the Russian government, but the group behind the attacks certainly appears to pursue Russian interests,” said Rik Ferguson of Trend Micro. (The Kremlin has once again denied the allegations.)
Still, it’s important to keep in mind that even if the Russian government directed the attacks—something that remains very much in doubt—the phishing expeditions and other forms of interference aren’t only alarming because of who might be behind them. They’re also alarming because of the setting in which they’re taking place: a country where political loyalty is fragmenting, once-dominant parties are unraveling, and trust in government is withering. As one Russia scholar in France told The Washington Post, “There is a crisis of confidence in France. The Kremlin networks try to accentuate the doubts and divisions and to propose the ‘Russian model’ as a solution. And these efforts will not end with the elections.” Nor are they likely to end with the Dutch election or the German election. Or, for that matter, with the U.S. election.
USA TODAY |
Mystery as world's-biggest-rabbit contender dies on United Airlines flight to O'Hare
USA TODAY LONDON — A giant rabbit died in unexplained circumstances on a United Airlines flight from Britain to Chicago in the latest unfortunate incident to hit the beleaguered airline, British media reported Wednesday. Simon, a 3-foot, 10-month-old ... United Airlines investigates giant bunny deathBBC News United Airlines Probes Death of 3-Foot Rabbit Simon, Set to Be World's LargestNBCNews.com Brit bunny riddle as rabbit destined to be world's biggest dies on United Airlines jet to USThe Sun all 184 news articles » |
DesMoinesRegister.com |
Police: Man fatally stabbed by brother in Marshalltown
DesMoinesRegister.com He was taken by ambulance to Central Iowa Healthcare, where he later died. Jordan Parker was on scene when officers arrived. Police questioned him and soon arrested him on a second-degree murder charge. He was booked into the Marshall County Jail. Police: Man charged with murder in brother's stabbing deathKCCI Des Moines all 7 news articles » |
Press TV |
Russia's stance on Syria's Assad unchanged: Kremlin
Press TV The Kremlin says Russia's position on Syrian President Bashar Assad remains unchanged and his fate is only up to the Syrian people to decide. “With regard to Assad's support, Russia's and President [Vladimir] Putin's position did not change, it is ... Russian weapons exports growing rapidly because of Syrian WarAMN Al-Masdar News (registration) all 103 news articles » |
Mediaite |
Carl Bernstein: Trump 'Impeding' Russia Investigations By Not Handing Over Flynn Docs
Mediaite Pointing out that Flynn is like a spool of yarn that is getting unspooled when it comes to theRussia/Trump investigations, the Washington Post veteran said straight up that Trump is blocking investigators from making progress. “He is impeding,” he noted. and more » |
CNN |
A whole lot of Republicans think Obama spied on Trump in 2016
CNN (CNN) Prepare to be wowed. In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, a majority of Republicans -- 52% -- say that they believe then-President Barack Obama spied on then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. 52%!. The claim ... Donald Trump Is a Real Republican, and That's a Good ThingNew York Times all 68 news articles » |
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The Atlantic |
Russia's Interference in the US Election Was Just the Beginning
The Atlantic Mike Conaway, the Republican who replaced Devin Nunes as head of the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election, has described his mission simply: “I just want to find out what happened,” he's said. The more ... Russian hackers heavily targeted news outlet in days before US election, researchers sayCyberScoop Russia-linked hackers targeting French election, security firm saysCBS News Here's The Latest Evidence That Russian Hackers Are Targeting Europe's ElectionsBuzzFeed News Washington Post -The Verge -Business Insider -Trend Micro all 96 news articles » |
Phys.Org |
Israel says it uncovered planned mass cyber attacks
Phys.Org Israeli authorities said on Wednesday that they had detected planned cyber attacks against 120 public and private targets in the Jewish state but did not specify the intended victims. A statement from Israel's National Authority for Cyber Defence ... In unusual announcement, Israel reveals it thwarted major ... - HaaretzHaaretz Cyber attack aimed at over 120 Israeli targets thwarted - Israel News ...Jerusalem Post Israel News all 13 news articles » |
Newsweek |
American Jets In Europe Show 'Will' And 'Unity' Against Russia, Estonia's Defense Minister Says
Newsweek A number of European nations have expressed concerns about the expansion of Russia'spolitical and military influence in Europe since Moscow annexed the former Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014 and sponsored separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine. and more » |
Samples from Syria's deadly sarin attack bear Assad's 'signature,' says France
Washington Post - 6 hours ago
BEIRUT — Samples from a deadly sarin attack in Syria bear “the signature” of President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons program, French officials said Wednesday. The announcement marks the strongest evidence yet that Assad's government was ...
France: Samples show Syrian gov't behind sarin attack
The Detroit News - 1 hour ago
Paris — France said Wednesday that the chemical analysis of samples taken from a deadly sarin gas attack in Syria earlier this month “bears the signature” of President Bashar Assad's government and shows it was responsible. Foreign Minister Jean-Marc ...
The Latest: Syria condemns Turkish attack on Kurds
Miami Herald - 3 hours ago
The Latest on Syria (all times local):. 5:15 p.m.. The Syrian government has condemned a Turkish attack on U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. The Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the airstrikes the day before violated international law ...
Syrian government made Sarin used in Khan Sheikhoun, France says
BBC News - 6 hours ago
France says it has evidence showing the Syrian air force "undoubtedly" dropped bombs containing the nerve agent Sarin on a rebel-held town last month. Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters that samples taken from the scene bore the ...
France 'has proof' Assad regime was behind Syria chemical weapon attack
4029tv - 6 hours ago
France has said that it has proof that the Syrian government was behind a chemical weapons attack in Syria earlier this month that killed 89 people. Advertisement. Related Content. Syria chemical attack: Inspectors find 'incontrovertible' evidence of ...
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The Hindu |
France: Analysis shows Syrian government behind sarin attack
kwwl.com "This method bears the signature of the regime and that is what allows us to establish its responsibility in this attack," he added, saying that France is working to bring those behind the "criminal" atrocities to international justice. France's ... France says analysis shows Syrian regime behind sarin attackWQOW TV News 18 all 382 news articles » |
Gizmodo |
This Old FBI File Is a Great Reminder of Just How Screwed Trump's Lying Cronies Are
Gizmodo Martin Friedman, the head of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, died last May at the age of 90. At the time, I requested Friedman's FBI file through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, and that 93-page file was delivered to me yesterday. |
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RT |
'No unified understanding of what it will take to end Syria crisis' - UN Under-Secretary-General
RT What are we talking about – organized crime, drug smuggling, weapons smuggling or particularlyterrorism. These are problems that do not respect national boundaries. These are problems that affect all continents. So, it is only logical that we have to ... |
Pope Francis will pursue efforts to reach out to Muslims during a visit to Egypt this week that comes as rampant Islamist terrorism is posing the greatest test to dialogue between the faiths since the Vatican made it a priority half a century ago.
Consider her appearance onstage for a panel discussion in a floral dress, suede high heels and simple jewelry. Before she had said a word, the choice telegraphed an unapologetic and unmistakable femininity (flowers!) in direct contrast with those of the other panelists: Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, wore more traditional, armorial jackets, while Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s foreign minister, was in a power-red dress. Ms. Trump’s choice suggested that when it comes to female strength, disguise is no longer necessary — though she did cover it with a somber black coat when she visited the Holocaust Memorial.
So far, so interesting. Especially because the dress was by the American designer Michael Kors; it’s part of his spring collection that, when shown on the runway in September, was set to the tune “Get Happy,” sung live by Rufus Wainwright — in anticipation of a Hillary Clinton victory in the presidential campaign.
After the election in November, Mr. Kors was not among the designers who overtly announced that they would not be dressing the Trump administration, although he has maintained a discreet distance. Still, the first lady, Melania Trump, has worn his clothes on at least two occasions: arriving at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and his wife, and more controversially, during her husband’s joint address to Congress in February.
Mr. Kors is being strategically drawn in, whether he likes it or not. (People are free to buy what they want, no matter the politics of a designer, after all.)
Yet in Berlin, at an occasion meant to promote, at least in part, female entrepreneurship, the dress was a surprising choice. Granted, Mr. Kors is an American designer, but he is both established and — to state the obvious — male. It’s hard not to think that Ms. Trump missed an opportunity to practice what she preaches. (She did deplane in Germany wearing a skirt by Misha Nonoo, an up-and-coming name who ticks both the American and the female boxes, so Ms. Trump presumably was thinking about that on some level).
Further complicating the matter was the fact that when Ms. Trump was asked, “What is your role, and who are you representing, your father as president of the United States, the American people or your business?” she responded “Certainly not the latter.” Nevertheless, according to White House Wardrobe, a website that purports to be a “Nonpartisan fashion lover following the style of #MelaniaTrump and #IvankaTrump, and recreating White House looks for less!”, she appeared to be wearing shoes from the brand that bears her name, as well as jewelry from her now-defunct high jewelry collection.
Ms. Trump’s office declined to confirm whether the accessories were, indeed, from her former brands, but White House Wardrobe posted photos on Instagram of similar items from both lines so that viewers could “get the look,” a development that underscores the continued difficulty Ms. Trump might have in extricating herself from her brand.
Although she has resigned her position with the company, placing her holdings in a trust, and although the jewelry brand has been discontinued, the fact that both lines were conceived to reflect her taste and her wardrobe means that whether or not she is wearing one of the brands, or just something that resembles it, her appearance acts as a promotional opportunity — intentional or not. She has been careful to wear big American brands (Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Michael Kors) on major public occasions. But she was, and remains, the best model for the brand that bears her name, even without a formal relationship to the company. Given the label, it’s unavoidable.
During the event in Berlin, Ms. Trump acknowledged that her governmental role was still very new, and that she was learning how to be effective. And it is an unprecedented situation. So if there is confusion, perhaps it is understandable.
But optics matter. Ms. Trump understands that as well as anyone. The question is how she uses them.
Continue reading the main story
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Carroll County Times |
Zirpoli: Trump, Putin masters of false narratives
Carroll County Times This is a tactic frequently used by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The irony, of course, is that this is also the standard operating procedure for President Donald Trump and his administration. Let's face it, no one tweets a better false narrative ... Trump, Putin and the Interference in the 2016 US ElectionModern Diplomacy America tensions with Russia won't end after Putin's goneThe Hill (blog) Still out in the cold: Why President Putin is yet to meet 'The Donald'The Tablet Sun Sentinel -Daily Star -Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists all 73 news articles » |
A New York Times investigation shows how Syria and its main partner, Russia, have distorted the facts surrounding the chemical weapons attack on Khan Sheikhoun.
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A soldier this month in a subway station in Seoul, South Korea. The army targeted dozens of gay soldiers in what rights groups said was an unprecedented campaign against gay men in the military.
The northernmost boundary of the Bears Ears National Monument, along the Colorado River, in southeastern Utah is one of the national monuments to be reviewed by the Interior Department.
Editor’s Note: The Washington Post on Nov. 24 published a story on the work of four sets of researchers who have examined what they say are Russian propaganda efforts to undermine American democracy and interests. One of them was PropOrNot, a group that insists on public anonymity, which issued a report identifying more than 200 websites that, in its view, wittingly or unwittingly published or echoed Russian propaganda. A number of those sites have objected to being included on PropOrNot’s list, and some of the sites, as well as others not on the list, have publicly challenged the group’s methodology and conclusions. The Post, which did not name any of the sites, does not itself vouch for the validity of PropOrNot’s findings regarding any individual media outlet, nor did the article purport to do so. Since publication of The Post’s story, PropOrNot has removed some sites from its list.
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.
Two teams of independent researchers found that the Russians exploited American-made technology platforms to attack U.S. democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment, as an insurgent candidate harnessed a wide range of grievances to claim the White House. The sophistication of the Russian tactics may complicate efforts by
Facebook and Google
to crack down on “fake news,” as they have vowed to do after widespread complaints about the problem.
There is no way to know whether the Russian campaign proved decisive in electing Trump, but researchers portray it as part of a broadly effective strategy of sowing distrust in U.S. democracy and its leaders. The tactics included penetrating the computers of election officials in
several states
and releasing
troves of hacked emails
that embarrassed Clinton in the final months of her campaign.
During a Facebook live discussion, reporter Caitlin Dewey explained how fake news sites use Facebook as a vehicle to function and make money. (The Washington Post)
During a Facebook live discussion, reporter Caitlin Dewey explained how fake news sites use Facebook as a vehicle to function and make money. Washington Post reporter Caitlin Dewey talks about how fake news sites function and make money. (The Washington Post)
“They want to essentially erode faith in the U.S. government or U.S. government interests,” said Clint Watts, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute who along with two other researchers has tracked Russian propaganda since 2014. “This was their standard mode during the Cold War. The problem is that this was hard to do before social media.”
Watts’s report on this work, with colleagues Andrew Weisburd and J.M. Berger, appeared on the national security online magazine War on the Rocks this month under the headline “
Trolling for Trump: How Russia Is Trying to Destroy Our Democracy.
” Another group, called PropOrNot, a nonpartisan collection of researchers with foreign policy, military and technology backgrounds, planned to release its own findings Friday showing the startling reach and effectiveness of Russian propaganda campaigns. (Update:
The report
came out on Saturday).
The researchers used Internet analytics tools to trace the origins of particular tweets and mapped the connections among social-media accounts that consistently delivered synchronized messages. Identifying website codes sometimes revealed common ownership. In other cases, exact phrases or sentences were echoed by sites and social-media accounts in rapid succession, signaling membership in connected networks controlled by a single entity.
PropOrNot’s monitoring report, which was provided to The Washington Post in advance of its public release, identifies more than 200 websites as routine peddlers of Russian propaganda during the election season, with combined audiences of at least 15 million Americans. On Facebook, PropOrNot estimates that stories planted or promoted by the disinformation campaign were viewed more than 213 million times.
Consider these points before sharing a news article on Facebook. It could be fake. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)
Consider these points before sharing a news article on Facebook. It could be fake. Consider these points before sharing an article on Facebook. It could be fake. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)
Some players in this online echo chamber were knowingly part of the propaganda campaign, the researchers concluded, while others were “useful idiots” — a term born of the Cold War to describe people or institutions that unknowingly assisted Soviet Union propaganda efforts.
The Russian campaign during this election season, researchers from both groups say, worked by harnessing the online world’s fascination with “buzzy” content that is surprising and emotionally potent, and tracks with popular conspiracy theories about how secret forces dictate world events.
Some of these stories originated with RT and Sputnik, state-funded Russian information services that mimic the style and tone of independent news organizations yet sometimes include false and misleading stories in their reports, the researchers say. On other occasions, RT, Sputnik and other Russian sites used social-media accounts to amplify misleading stories already circulating online, causing news algorithms to identify them as “trending” topics that sometimes prompted coverage from mainstream American news organizations.
The speed and coordination of these efforts allowed Russian-backed phony news to outcompete traditional news organizations for audience. Some of the first and most alarming tweets after
Clinton fell ill
at a Sept. 11 memorial event in New York, for example, came from Russian botnets and trolls, researchers found. (She was treated for pneumonia and
returned
to the campaign trail a few days later.)
This followed a spate of other misleading stories in August about Clinton’s supposedly troubled health.
The Daily Beast debunked
a particularly widely read piece in an article that reached 1,700 Facebook accounts and was read online more than 30,000 times. But the PropOrNot researchers found that the version supported by Russian propaganda reached 90,000 Facebook accounts and was read more than 8 million times. The researchers said the true Daily Beast story was like “shouting into a hurricane” of false stories supported by the Russians.
This propaganda machinery also helped push the phony story that an anti-Trump protester was paid thousands of dollars to participate in demonstrations, an allegation initially made by a self-described satirist and later repeated publicly by the Trump campaign. Researchers from both groups traced a variety of other false stories — fake reports of a
coup launched at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey
and stories about how the United States was going to conduct a military attack and blame it on Russia — to Russian propaganda efforts.
The final weeks of the campaign featured a heavy dose of stories about supposed election irregularities, allegations of vote-rigging and the potential for Election Day violence should Clinton win, researchers said.
“The way that this propaganda apparatus supported Trump was equivalent to some massive amount of a media buy,” said the executive director of PropOrNot, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid being targeted by Russia’s legions of skilled hackers. “It was like Russia was running a super PAC for Trump’s campaign. . . . It worked.”
He and other researchers expressed concern that the U.S. government has few tools for detecting or combating foreign propaganda. They expressed hope that their research detailing the power of Russian propaganda would spur official action.
A former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael A. McFaul, said he was struck by the overt support that Sputnik expressed for Trump during the campaign, even using the #CrookedHillary hashtag pushed by the candidate.
McFaul said Russian propaganda typically is aimed at weakening opponents and critics. Trump’s victory, though reportedly celebrated by Putin and his allies in Moscow, may have been an unexpected benefit of an operation that already had fueled division in the United States. “They don’t try to win the argument,” said McFaul, now director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. “It’s to make everything seem relative. It’s kind of an appeal to cynicism.”
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied interfering in the U.S. election or hacking the accounts of election officials. “This is some sort of nonsense,” Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for Putin, said last month when U.S. officials accused Russia of penetrating the computers of the Democratic National Committee and other political organizations.
RT disputed the findings of the researchers in an e-mail on Friday, saying it played no role in producing or amplifying any fake news stories related to the U.S. election. “It is the height of irony that an article about “fake news” is built on false, unsubstantiated claims. RT adamantly rejects any and all claims and insuations that the network has originated even a single “fake story” related to the US election,” wrote Anna Belkina, head of communications.
The findings about the mechanics of Russian propaganda operations largely track previous research by the Rand Corp. and George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.
“They use our technologies and values against us to sow doubt,” said Robert Orttung, a GWU professor who studies Russia. “It’s starting to undermine our democratic system.”
The
Rand report
— which dubbed Russian propaganda efforts a “firehose of falsehood” because of their speed, power and relentlessness — traced the country’s current generation of online propaganda work to the 2008 incursion into neighboring Georgia, when Russia sought to blunt international criticism
of its aggression
by pushing alternative explanations online.
The same tactics, researchers said, helped Russia shape international opinions about its 2014 annexation of Crimea and its
military intervention in Syria
, which started last year. Russian propaganda operations also worked to promote the “Brexit” departure of Britain from the European Union.
Another crucial moment, several researchers say, came in 2011 when the party of Russian President Vladimir Putin was accused of rigging elections,
sparking protests
that Putin blamed the Obama administration — and then-Secretary of State Clinton — for instigating.
Putin, a former KGB officer,
announced
his desire to “break the Anglo-Saxon monopoly on the global information streams” during a 2013 visit to the broadcast center for RT, formerly known as Russia Today.
“For them, it’s actually a real war, an ideological war, this clash between two systems,” said Sufian Zhemukhov, a former Russian journalist conducting research at GWU. “In their minds, they’re just trying to do what the West does to Russia.”
RT broadcasts news reports worldwide in several languages, but the most effective way it reaches U.S. audiences is online.
Its English-language flagship YouTube channel, launched in 2007, has 1.85 million subscribers and has had a total of 1.8 billion views, making it more widely viewed than CNN’s YouTube channel, according to a George Washington University report this month.
Though widely seen as a propaganda organ, the Russian site has gained credibility with some American conservatives.
Trump sat for an interview
with RT in September. His nominee for national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn,
traveled to Russia
last year for a gala sponsored by the network. He later compared it to CNN.
Economy & Business Alerts
Breaking news about economic and business issues.
The content from Russian sites has offered ready fodder for U.S.-based websites pushing far-right conservative messages. A former contractor for one, the Next News Network, said he was instructed by the site’s founder, Gary S. Franchi Jr., to weave together reports from traditional sources such as the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times with ones from RT, Sputnik and others that provided articles that often spread explosively online.
“The readers are more likely to share the fake stories, and they’re more profitable,” said Dyan Bermeo, who said he helped assemble scripts and book guests for Next News Network before leaving because of a pay dispute and concerns that “fake news” was crowding out real news.
In just the past 90 days — a period that has included the closing weeks of the campaign, Election Day and its aftermath — the YouTube audience of Next News Network has jumped from a few hundred thousand views a day to a few million, according to analytics firm
Tubular Labs
. In October alone, videos from Next News Network were viewed more than 56 million times.
Franchi said in an e-mail statement that Next News Network seeks “a global perspective” while providing commentary aimed at U.S. audiences, especially with regard to Russian military activity. “Understanding the threat of global war is the first step to preventing it,” he said, “and we feel our coverage assisted in preventing a possible World War 3 scenario.”
Correction: A previously published version of this story incorrectly stated that Russian information service RT had used the “#CrookedHillary” hastag pushed by then-Republican candidate Donald Trump. In fact, while another Russian information service Sputnik did use this hashtag, RT did not.
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The White House last week rejected a State Department letter that declared Iran in compliance with a landmark nuclear deal, insisting on far tougher wording, according to senior U.S. officials.
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