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Judd Legum
@JuddLegum
, 6 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
Monday, I reported on a huge network of Facebook pages that were run by Ukrainians and pushing pro-Trump propaganda.

A few hours later, Facebook took the entire network down

Now, I secured interviews w/the Ukrainians running the pages

It's pretty wild

popular.info/p/an-interview…
2. The entire network, which had the same reach as the NYT and WashPost combined, was run by 3 people!

One of them was a 13-year-old girl

Another was an elderly woman w/disabilities named Ludmila

Ludmila ran the "I Love America" page w/1.1M followers

popular.info/p/an-interview…
3. The motivation for the creation of this network was MONEY.

The guy running it said when Facebook shut it down, it cost him $1 million.

And he was just getting started. He estimated that it would eventually have made him $500K/month

popular.info/p/an-interview…
4. Financial opportunism is actually a more systemic threat to democracy than gov't psyops

There are only so many gov'ts with the resources & risk tolerance to interfere in a U.S. election

But there is an unlimited supply of people who want to make $

popular.info/p/an-interview…
5. Facebook and Google make it EASY to profit off of disinformation. They incentivize it.

Wednesday's newsletter is normally subscribers only but I made today's available to everyone because its important

If you value this work, please subscribe ➡️ popular.info/subscribe
6. Shout out to @sapitonmix, the Ukrainian journalist who made these interviews possible.

This dude stayed up until 2AM translating his interviews into English.

Not all heroes wear capes.

popular.info/p/an-interview…
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Judd Legum
@JuddLegum
Facebook's upcoming "news" tab sounds like an absolute train wreck

"Facebook will highlight only publishers that rated above a certain level of trustworthiness in surveys the company conducted...last year."

This is from a company that has DAILY CALLER do its fact checking
The page, which Facebook says will be limited to trustworthy outlets, may include BREITBART

The company is including Breitbart, which has laundered white nationalist talking points, to avoid claims of conservative bias

wsj.com/articles/with-…
I reported that the Daily Caller reviewed a post by the "Rowdy Republican" page that had a dangerous scam targeting people with diabetes.

The Daily Caller rated it TRUE

popular.info/p/facebook-giv…
Read 3 tweets
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Judd Legum
@JuddLegum
1. The "Police Lives Matter" Facebook page accumulated 170K fans

The page purported to be run by U.S. police officers, with cops posting about the "first dayshift of my career with a K9"

It was actually run from Kosovo

popular.info/p/huge-police-…
2. The page trafficked in misinformation about U.S. cops.

For example, on August 19, 2019, the page claimed that Deputy Farrah Turner had just died from gunshot wounds

Turner actually died 10 months earlier, in October 2018

popular.info/p/huge-police-…
3. "Police Lives Matter" was part of a network of Facebook pages run from Kosovo that sought to exploit the right-wing backlash against the Black Lives Matter movement w/names like "I Support The Police US not Criminals"

It included pro-Trump memes.

popular.info/p/huge-police-…
Read 7 tweets
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Judd Legum
@JuddLegum
Trump met with Wayne LaPierre and asked if the NRA would finance his impeachment defense. LaPierre said he would if Trump promised not to pursue any gun legislation. nytimes.com/2019/09/27/us/…
There is going to be an awful lot to keep track of in the coming days and weeks.

My newsletter, Popular Information, can help.

It's like my Twitter only with full sentences, original research and reporting.

Sign up ➡️ popular.info
Just FYI, after I tweeted this, the NYT changed the language in the story.

I don't think it fundamentally changes anything but wanted everyone to be aware.

Read 3 tweets

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TheSharpEdge
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💀New #QAnon Thread💀

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Atlee Solomon
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1. Thread.
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