Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter played a critical role in helping Russia-affiliated trolls disseminate propaganda to divide and manipulate voters in the 2016 presidential election.
But it hasn't stopped. A new report from the Vietnam Veterans Association has uncovered an ongoing two-year effort by actors in several foreign countries, including Russia, to target U.S. veterans and servicemembers.
The report shows that "These foreign admins have created individual social-media accounts that purport to belong to American veterans working at reputable veterans organizations," and use the accounts both to "send friend requests to the relatively small community of veteran advocates and connect with its prominent members who work to shape federal policy" and "spread propaganda and false news, while shaping and moderating/censoring the conversations of the unsuspecting community of American veterans who follow or join these groups and pages."
Former State Department diplomat and Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement Director Mike Carpenter noted in a thread on Monday how this secret effort has worked:
Wow. The mainstream media have totally neglected an explosive report from the Vietnam Veterans Association documen… https://t.co/ZFnqAcbQHL— Michael Carpenter (@Michael Carpenter)1569246711.0
From August 2017 - August 2019, VVA revealed a coordinated online campaign targeting American servicemembers, veter… https://t.co/M2ScGLX8W8— Michael Carpenter (@Michael Carpenter)1569246711.0
VVA reports that Russian propaganda targeting servicemembers and veterans was (and still is) spread by account admi… https://t.co/xNM8ZBVHZY— Michael Carpenter (@Michael Carpenter)1569246711.0
For eg, the “Veterans Nation” FB page spreads Russian-generated content and is administered from Vietnam, Brazil, a… https://t.co/aZubyNeXhs— Michael Carpenter (@Michael Carpenter)1569246712.0
As VVA notes, the cooperation among account administrators from multiple countries "suggests an international consp… https://t.co/BXygFEQA3O— Michael Carpenter (@Michael Carpenter)1569246712.0
One such page, “Veterans of Vietnam,” with nearly 160,000 followers, is administered from Russia, Ukraine, and Ital… https://t.co/QIl8OV7W3P— Michael Carpenter (@Michael Carpenter)1569246712.0
VVA notes fake accounts are also being used by hostile Chinese intelligence services to target influential members… https://t.co/iWckfg0JAB— Michael Carpenter (@Michael Carpenter)1569246712.0
VVA also discovered foreign entities targeting veterans for the purpose of interference in the 2020 presidential ca… https://t.co/rOC6rQJqkq— Michael Carpenter (@Michael Carpenter)1569246712.0
As VVA notes, the Vets for Trump page "posts explicitly pro-Trump and anti-Democratic-candidate messages and memes.… https://t.co/EwVFI15qyZ— Michael Carpenter (@Michael Carpenter)1569246713.0
In terms of offensive messaging, Vets for Trump has been primarily focused on attacking the top Democratic presiden… https://t.co/ikcNEWXsWq— Michael Carpenter (@Michael Carpenter)1569246713.0
In short, the VVA report provides more compelling data showing how we are facing an even bigger foreign-funded (mos… https://t.co/V7lpfc67ub— Michael Carpenter (@Michael Carpenter)1569246713.0
You can read the full report here: https://t.co/oICyt7LY6X— Michael Carpenter (@Michael Carpenter)1569246713.0
