Explosive report shows how foreign entities are bombarding US servicemembers with pro-Trump propaganda

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: