By Deepa Seetharaman
Workers behind Russian-linked Facebook Inc. accounts helped
organize or finance real-life events before and after the 2016
election, often working directly with U.S. activists and playing
both sides of the same hot-button issue -- even on the same
day.
In July 2016, as outrage swelled over fatal shootings in Dallas
and Minneapolis, alleged social-media agitators tied to Russia
worked quickly to capitalize on the emotionally charged
atmosphere.
Workers linked to a Russia-based firm organized two gatherings,
both for July 10: In Dallas, a "Blue Lives Matter" rally honored
the five police officers slain there on July 7; and near
Minneapolis, nearly 300 people rallied in support of Philando
Castile, a man fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic
stop.
The events show that the Russian-linked account activity went
far beyond paying for polarizing ads dropped into Facebook members'
news feeds. At least 60 rallies, protests and marches were
publicized or financed by eight Russia-backed Facebook accounts
from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., according to a review by The
Wall Street Journal, which looked at archived versions of
now-deleted Facebook posts and interviewed activists, attendees and
others familiar with the events, most of which were posted on
Facebook.
Facebook said in September that it had found 470 such accounts
that it says belonged to Russians and that sought to exploit social
divisions in the U.S. through provocative issue ads. The eight
accounts the Journal examined are among those Facebook unearthed,
according to people familiar with the matter. Facebook said it
closed the accounts.
Much of the scrutiny of the Russian accounts so far has focused
on their online activity, but the live events demonstrate how the
alleged use of social media by Russian forces served as a launchpad
for deeper infiltration into the American democratic process. Many
rallies were sparsely attended, but some attracted news coverage,
helping the accounts seem legitimate, add followers and enlist
activists to plan future events.
People representing "Black Matters US," one of the Russia-backed
accounts, pressured Los Angeles activist Nolan Hack to plan events
that would raise the account's visibility. "They'd say, we need to
continue to up the protest numbers. We need to continue to get more
people to know about us," Mr. Hack said. "I would say -- who cares
about that? We're not trying to win a reality show here."
At least 22 of the 60 events actually took place, such as a May
2016 protest of an Islamic center in Houston planned by "Heart of
Texas", a Russia-created page that supported Texas secession and
posted the "Blue Lives Matter" rally in Dallas two months later. On
June 25, 2016, following the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in
Orlando, Fla, "LGBT United" organized a candlelight vigil, where
one of the victim's brothers spoke. Both were covered by local
media and attracted a dozen or more attendees.
It is unclear if the other 40 or so events occurred as
publicized. Collectively, the eight accounts analyzed by the
Journal were "liked" nearly two million times, archived websites
show.
"Getting someone to physically show up somewhere is huge," said
Sarah Oates, a political communications professor at the University
of Maryland. "That is a level of political commitment that is a
whole degree stronger than getting someone to comment."
This week, executives from Facebook, Twitter Inc. and Alphabet
Inc.'s Google are scheduled to appear before Congress to answer
questions about Russian activity found on their platforms by
congressional investigators examining alleged Russian interference
in the U.S. democratic process. Russia has denied any interference
in the election.
"We take this very seriously and that's why we're taking strong
action to improve security on Facebook by investing in new
technology and hiring more people," a Facebook spokesman said, when
asked about the events.
Disclosures by Facebook about covert Russian influence on its
platform around the election have centered on 3,000 ads bought by
accounts connected to pro-Kremlin firm Internet Research Agency.
The Russian actors also, however, churned out free posts, including
event listings. Facebook has estimated that the ads were seen by 10
million people, but academic researchers believe the content, such
as free posts and event listings, could have reached many times
that.
Russian entities likely promoted events because the Kremlin
believes protests destabilize democracies, according to Ms. Oates,
who studies Russian propaganda. Event listings show how
Russia-backed pages organized protests for and against the same
issues. The page "Born Patriotic" planned 17 pro-Trump rallies on
the same day in August 2016 while "Black Matters" hosted anti-Trump
rallies after the election.
The Russia-backed pages often contacted U.S. activists over
Messenger, a free messaging service from Facebook, or by phone to
ask for help organizing events, according to activists. In other
cases, activists reached out after seeing a Facebook event, such as
the planned protest in Minneapolis following Mr. Castile's death by
an account named "Don't Shoot."
Some of the organizers say they spoke to people with British,
South African and other non-U.S. accents who said they represented
the accounts.
The pages covered some event costs, like travel and equipment
rental, and sent funds to activists through bank cards or
money-transfer services like MoneyGram, activists said. But the
people behind the accounts were also hasty planners and often
failed at basic logistics, such as securing permits -- and appeared
eager for their events to provoke reactions or make headlines, said
activists who worked with them.
Representatives from the Facebook page "United Muslims of
America" asked Mike Ghouse, an interfaith activist, to speak at a
Sept. 3, 2016 event in Washington, D.C. billed as "a peaceful
rally, to make mosques and their neighborhood safe!"
The group sent Mr. Ghouse placards they intended to use that
included anti-Trump messages, causing him to back out, he said. "I
said they should be more pluralistic, more inclusive because
there's no need to attack Trump," Mr. Ghouse said. "They wouldn't,
so I didn't go."
Some events stoked public discord. At the rally in front of the
Islamic center in Houston, about a dozen protesters gathered, some
waving confederate flags or holding a sign that said
"#WhiteLivesMatter," according to video footage.
Across the street, about 60 counter protesters assembled in an
effort that didn't appear to have any Russian ties. Some of them
held a banner with Adolf Hitler's photo and the words, "Follow your
leader: kill yourself."
Photos and videos from Houston and some of the other events
later appeared on Facebook, Google's YouTube, as well as Twitter
and its live-streaming video service Periscope.
--Jack Nicas contributed to this article.
Write to Deepa Seetharaman at Deepa.Seetharaman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 30, 2017 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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