Photo: The New York Times
It has been claimed that a Russian group known as the Internet Research Agency, based in St. Petersburg, is seeking to undermine and influence the 2020 United States Presidential elections in favour of incumbent Donald Trump.
The claims were made by the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, who said there were ongoing efforts by Russia, China and Iran to try to influence voting in the upcoming election. Further evidence also emerged as a site known as Peace Data was found to be being run from Russia.
The Peace Data site hired American writers to write and rewrite reports from a left-wing standpoint that criticised the Biden campaign, in an apparent effort to swing more radical left-wing voters away from the mainstream Democratic candidate.
The site had been operating since 2019 and published articles related to racism, the environment and other left-wing causes. The American writers did not know at the time who it was exactly they were working for.
In 2016, there was substantial accusations made regarding Russian interference in the election, almost all of which was related to online news reporting and the propagation of so-called 'fake news'.
A special counsel investigation in the United States headed by Robert Muller concluded that the Russian Internet Research Agency sought to spread news items that were likely to support Donald Trump and harm the Clinton campaign. It also said that their computer hacking led to the unleashing of Hillary Clinton's emails, which became a focus of much of the Trump campaign.
The fear is that this is happening yet again.
Both Facebook and twitter have stated that they are now doing all they can to stop future fake news articles. They were heavily criticised following the 2016 US presidential election and during the 2016 Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom for doing too little.
The reason some claim that the Russian state favours the election of Donald Trump over a Democratic rival is that Trump has a more insular view towards foreign policy, meaning that he is less likely to expand US interests into the Russia areas of interest. It is also believed that on political issues he is far more aligned with the current Russian government than any of those within the Democratic party. Russia may also see Trump as weakening NATO and US power in Europe, where much of the Russian state's interests lie.
Russia has denied any wrongdoing. It is also questionable to what extent the propaganda spread actually assisted the Trump campaign. The initial mems and images released by the Muller report were child-like and unprofessional, unlikely to truly swing many voters.
The fact though that writers within America are now operating these sites, as seen in the case of Peace Data, shows that while foreign actors may have a harder time reaching an audience, their tactics are becoming much more sophisticated.
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