Just days after DNI Dan Coats testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee, saying “Frankly, the United States is under attack,” Russian troll accounts predictably try to use the Parkland, Florida school shooting to widen social divides.
According to live data collected by the nonpartisan Hamilton 68 dashboard, Russian-linked Twitter accounts flooded the service with tweets using popular hashtags like #parkland, #guncontrolnow and #florida.
(...)
Russian trolls use popular hashtags to get into trending conversations, but then add more incendiary hashtags to drive readers to more partisan conversations and explosive imagery.
(...)
A survey of tweets using the top hashtags flagged by the Hamilton 68 dashboard showed tweets adamantly in favor of gun control and saying the NRA had taken "blood money." Other tweets attacked liberals, the media and lawmakers.
(...)
Experts say the goal of Russian troll propagandists isn't to sway people's opinions in one way or another. Instead, the accounts seek to exploit divisions in order to break down society into smaller, warring groups.
Twitter does not require verification to set up an account which makes it easy for trolls to latch on to breaking news events and stoke anger on both sides of highly emotional issues. Lawmakers have been confronting tech and social media companies lately, imploring them to do better at combating Russian trolls in particular and fake accounts in general, but Twitter has been slow to root out bad actors and make substantive changes.
Russian trolls flood Twitter after Parkland shooting (NBC News)