Hong Kong News

Nonpartisan, Noncommercial, unconstrained.
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Russian agency created fake leftwing news outlet with fictional editors, Facebook says

Russian agency created fake leftwing news outlet with fictional editors, Facebook says

Internet Research Agency also hired real, unwitting freelance reporters in operation Facebook has removed
The Russian agency that interfered in the 2016 US election created a fake leftwing news publication, staffed it with fake editors with AI-generated photos and hired real freelance reporters as part of a fresh influence operation detected and removed by Facebook, the company said on Tuesday.

The latest operation by the Internet Research Agency (IRA) was still in its early stages when it was detected thanks to a tip from the FBI, according to Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher. The network had 13 accounts and two pages, with about 14,000 total followers.

The Facebook accounts and pages were designed to bolster PeaceData.net, an English- and Arabic-language website that claims to be a “global news organization”, but whose editorial staff are fictitious. Headshots of PeaceData’s “staff” were created using Generative Adversarial Networks, a type of AI that can produce lifelike images of faces, according to Graphika, a social media analysis firm that produced a report on the IRA operation.

“They put substantial effort into creating elaborate fictitious personas, trying to make fake accounts look as real as possible,” Gleicher said.

Many of the characters had profiles on Twitter and LinkedIn. Twitter said on Tuesday that it had suspended five accounts associated with PeaceData for “platform manipulation that we can reliably attribute to Russian state actors”. The company said tweets from the accounts were “low quality” and “spammy”, and that it would block links to content from PeaceData. LinkedIn did not immediately respond to a query.

Much of PeaceData’s content was copied from other websites, though some was produced by unwitting freelance reporters. Advertisements on Upwork and Guru.com offered a flat rate of $75 to entry-level writers. Major topics for the site included armed conflict, human rights abuses (especially by the US and UK), corruption, and the environment, as well as WikiLeaks, the coronavirus pandemic and the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory.

Four freelance journalists who wrote for PeaceData told the Guardian that they had been approached by one of PeaceData’s “editors” on Twitter, LinkedIn or by email with an offer to write for the site. Two were early-career writers who had recently been laid off and were eager to establish themselves; two were more experienced writers. The Guardian agreed to let them speak anonymously because they were concerned for their careers.

The writers only learned of the deception from news reports or reporters’ inquiries. One of the experienced journalists said that PeaceData had paid $250 up front, which was unusual, then “ghosted” her after publishing one piece. “I didn’t imagine a scam would have paid me up front like that,” she said.

Another writer said he was approached via direct message on Twitter and offered $200-$250 a piece, more than he was usually paid for writing.

“I was just trying to get more bylines and get paid to do what I want to do,” he said. “I’ve interacted with editors who do far less than what they were doing, and they paid faster than some publications ... I’m a freelance writer – I’m used to being taken advantage of.”

PeaceData’s coverage of the US portrayed the country as “war-mongering and law-breaking abroad while being racked by racism, Covid-19, and cutthroat capitalism at home”, according to the report. The outlet was negative toward Donald Trump, but Graphika found that its treatment of his Democratic rival Joe Biden and vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris was “noteworthy for its hostile tone”.

The US-focused content of PeaceData appeared designed to “build a leftwing audience and steer it away from Biden’s campaign”, according to the Graphika analysis. UK-focused content similarly appeared to appeal to leftwing audiences with attacks on the Labour party leader, Keir Starmer, for being too centrist.

The operation targeted supporters of Bernie Sanders and democratic socialists in the US and supporters of Jeremy Corbyn in the UK by having one of the fake accounts, the fictitious “Alex Lacusta”, post links to PeaceData articles in affiliated Facebook groups.

The IRA also used “unwitting users” to attempt to obtain authorization from Facebook to run political ads in the US, the company said. Facebook implemented the authorization process for political advertisers after the 2016 election, when the IRA was able to spend about $100,000 – some of it in rubles – on ads that targeted US voters with divisive messaging.

An unsigned statement posted on PeaceData’s website said allegations the site was “a Russian propaganda tool” were “an ugly lie”.

Both Facebook and Graphika concluded that the operation had been detected and taken down before causing significant damage.

“It follows a steady pattern where particularly Russian actors have gotten better at hiding who they are, but their impact is smaller and smaller and they are getting caught earlier,” Gleicher said. “These actors are caught between a rock and hard place: run a large network that gets caught quickly or run a small network that has limited reach.”

“The operation’s greatest success – to the extent that it had any – lay in its ability to co-opt unwitting authors to write its content,” the Graphika analysis concludes. “The IRA’s 13 accounts managed to deceive that pinpoint audience; they do not appear to have reached a substantially larger one.”

Twitter appealed to “governments around the world” to stop attempting to deceive users through similar operations.

“Regardless of the low-level impact in this case, governments around the world must stop these practices,” the company said in a tweeted statement. “They’re antidemocratic. Attempts to manipulate our service to undermine democracy – by both foreign and domestic actors – will be met with strict enforcement of our policies.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Hong Kong News
0:00
0:00
Close
It's always the people with the dirty hands pointing their fingers
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Steve Jobs' Son Launches Venture Capital Firm With $200 Million For Cancer Treatments
Google reshuffles Assistant unit, lays off some staffers, to 'supercharge' products with A.I.
End of Viagra? FDA approved a gel against erectile dysfunction
UK sanctions Russians judges over dual British national Kara-Murza's trial
US restricts visa-free travel for Hungarian passport holders because of security concerns
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Political leader from South Africa, Julius Malema, led violent racist chants at a massive rally on Saturday
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
'I am not your servant': IndiGo crew member, passenger get into row over airline meal
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Spanish Citizenship Granted to Iranian chess player who removed hijab
US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell freezes up, leaves press conference
Speaker McCarthy says the United States House of Representatives is getting ready to impeach Joe Biden.
San Francisco car crash
This camera man is a genius
3D ad in front of Burj Khalifa
Next level gaming
BMW driver…
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
×