An Associated Press analysis of now-deleted Twitter accounts identified as Russian-linked trolls shows operatives not only worked to elevate negative stories about Hillary Clinton but also aggressively tried to bury bad news about Donald Trump:
Tweets by Russia-backed accounts such as “America_1st_” and “BatonRougeVoice” on Oct. 7, 2016, actively pivoted away from news of an audio recording in which Trump made crude comments about groping women, and instead touted damaging emails hacked from Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta.
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AP’s analysis illuminates the obvious strategy behind the Russian cyber meddling: swiftly react, distort and distract attention from any negative Trump news.
As Special Counsel Robert Mueller and congressional investigators explore whether there was any coordination between Russian interference and the Trump campaign, the timing of troll activity deserves scrutiny:
“MSM (the mainstream media) is at it again with Billy Bush recording ... What about telling Americans how Hillary defended a rapist and later laughed at his victim?” tweeted the America_1st— account, which had 25,045 followers at its peak, according to metadata in the archive. The tweet went out the afternoon of Oct. 7, just hours after The Washington Post broke the story about Trump’s comments to Bush, then host of “Access Hollywood,” about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women, saying, “when you’re a star, they let you do it.”
Within an hour of the Post’s story, WikiLeaks unleashed its own bombshell about hacked email from Podesta’s account, a release the Russian accounts had been foreshadowing for days.
AP also notes Russian-linked Twitter trolls amplified Trump talking points throughout the election:
The Russian accounts didn’t just spring into action at the last minute. They were similarly active at earlier points in the campaign.
When Trump reversed himself on a lie about Barack Obama’s birthplace on Sept. 17, declaring abruptly that Obama “was born in the United States, period,” several Russian accounts chimed in to echo Trump’s subsequent false claim that it was Clinton who had started the birther controversy.
Full story: AP Exclusive: Russia Twitter trolls deflected Trump bad news (AP)