Reports: Russian operation boosted 'fake news' phenomenon

(usatoday - The "fake news" phenomenon that circulated thousands of phony stories during the election was aided by a sophisticated Russian propaganda effort, according to the Washington Post.

Independent researchers who tracked the bold operation say the goal was to punish Democrat Hillary Clinton, help Republican Donald Trump and undermine faith in American democracy, the newspaper reports.

Two teams of independent researchers found that the Russians exploited American-made technology platforms to attack U.S. democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment in the rancorous campaigns. Among the most-circulated stories were items on Clinton's health and fears about vote rigging.

“They want to essentially erode faith in the U.S. government or U.S. government interests,” said Clint Watts, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute who co-authored a report on Russian propaganda, the Post reports. “This was their standard mode during the Cold War. The problem is that this was hard to do before social media.”

The "fake news" phenomenon that circulated thousands of phony stories during the election was aided by a sophisticated Russian propaganda effort, according to the Washington Post.

Independent researchers who tracked the bold operation say the goal was to punish Democrat Hillary Clinton, help Republican Donald Trump and undermine faith in American democracy, the newspaper reports.

Two teams of independent researchers found that the Russians exploited American-made technology platforms to attack U.S. democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment in the rancorous campaigns. Among the most-circulated stories were items on Clinton's health and fears about vote rigging.

“They want to essentially erode faith in the U.S. government or U.S. government interests,” said Clint Watts, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute who co-authored a report on Russian propaganda, the Post reports. “This was their standard mode during the Cold War. The problem is that this was hard to do before social media.” (FullText)