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NEW: As we turn toward 2020, here’s what to expect in the disinfo/election interference space: thinkprogress.org/how-russia-wil…
As one former CIA officer told me, “I think we’ll see [something] like Spinal Tap: ‘Now, let’s turn it up to 11.’”
As one former CIA officer told me, “I think we’ll see [something] like Spinal Tap: ‘Now, let’s turn it up to 11.’”
First, on the social media front, get ready for "meta-trolling"—trolling about trolling—some of which we've already seen.
"You don’t need to actually throw the election if you can make people believe you’ve thrown the election."
"You don’t need to actually throw the election if you can make people believe you’ve thrown the election."
(And get ready for more social media interference operations from other actors, both foreign and domestic, not just out of Russia. See those fake Iranian accounts posing as Bernie supporters: washingtonpost.com/news/democracy…)
It's still too early to tell what themes/motifs 2020 social media interference ops will target—depends on the Democratic nominee, etc.—but USG believes it'll be much the same we saw in 2016: racial tensions, social splits, and the like.
Hacking (obviously, surprise!) will play some kind of role.
Whether any candidates use the hacked materials is another guess, but @RudyGiuliani saying this week there's "nothing wrong" with using that material is... not a great sign.
Whether any candidates use the hacked materials is another guess, but @RudyGiuliani saying this week there's "nothing wrong" with using that material is... not a great sign.
@RudyGiuliani On the influence side, get ready for more odd contacts between fringe American folks—secessionists, Jill Stein—and those pushing Russian influence ops, or those sanctioned by the U.S. (Who will be the Maria Butina of 2020?) thinkprogress.org/how-russia-wil…
@RudyGiuliani (Hell, it was only last month that Franklin Graham decided it was a good idea to travel to Moscow to have a sit-down with sanctioned Russia official Vyacheslav Volodin: thinkprogress.org/why-was-frankl…)
@RudyGiuliani And then there are the new possible (foreign or domestic) disinfo tactics. The first: deepfake videos.
“What if somebody puts out something horrible about either candidate immediately before the election? Can you get the computer diagnostics done in time?”
“What if somebody puts out something horrible about either candidate immediately before the election? Can you get the computer diagnostics done in time?”
@RudyGiuliani The second, the holy grail of election interference: actual vote-tampering, which we didn't see in 2016.
"Do they go further this time? We just don’t know. But they didn’t do that electronic reconnaissance of the state and local election board computers for no reason."
"Do they go further this time? We just don’t know. But they didn’t do that electronic reconnaissance of the state and local election board computers for no reason."
@RudyGiuliani ICYMI
@RudyGiuliani Turns out that Maria Butina, who was just sentenced to 18 months in prison, actually sent *multiple* potential Trump Secretary of State names to Torshin to vet: cnn.com/2019/04/26/pol…
@RudyGiuliani #tbt Butina in 2014 'traveled to Crimea to promote the arming of pro-Russian separatists. Her efforts there included pledging support to a leader of a militia group that violently seized a Crimean news outlet' motherjones.com/politics/2019/…
