The Daily Beast discovered the Kremlin not only used targeted ads online but also real people -- video bloggers -- to try to convince black voters to support Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
"Williams and Kalvin Johnson" posted videos on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube viciously insulting Hillary Clinton and promoting Trump, claiming he could not be racist because that would be bad for business:
While the videos only racked up hundreds of views on YouTube at press time, some Williams and Kalvin videos on Facebook reached thousands of people. Before the account was shuttered, Williams and Kalvin’s Facebook page had 48,000 fans.
The Daily Beast tried to track down the Johnsons through their social media accounts and discovered the two most likely are Nigerian, not American:
Efforts to reach out to Facebook friends of Williams and Kalvin, who also joined their sole Facebook group, “#BlackLivesMatter against #PoliceBrutality,” also did not receive a response. None of Williams or Kalvin’s Facebook friends are from Atlanta, where the two claim they live on Facebook and in videos. On Facebook, both Williams and Kalvin claim their hometown is Owerri in Nigeria.
Read More: Russia Recruited YouTubers to Bash ‘Racist B*tch’ Hillary Clinton Over Rap Beats (Daily Beast)