One of the interesting things about the latest Mueller indictment: it looks like there were two Russian troll operations targeting the US in 2016, not just the Internet Research Agency one.
medium.com/dfrlab/trolltr…
The GRU used the persona of "Alice Donovan" to create the DCLeaks Facebook page.
There's a lot of research been done on that persona, but having it linked so directly to DCLeaks is interesting.
The operation used the same computer to run the backup DCLeaks Twitter account and one called @BaltimoreIsWhr.
That account pushed #BlacksAgainstHillary.
It's a hashtag which, as far as we know from the @NBCNews archive and other saves, was not pushed by the troll farm.
There's not much left of the hashtag online. What there is looks extremely dodgy.
Some posts just used the hashtag.
Some posted the hashtag and a meme.
Almost all of them only ever posted once. Hardly organic behaviour. Looks like an amateurish attempt to make a hashtag trend.
Again, not something the troll farm also pushed, as far as we know.
One site - WeAreChange.org - published an article on the hashtag regardless. It played up the size of the event, apparently trying to amplify it more.
Who was the author?
Alice Donovan.
The article said the hashtag was launched by a grassroots group called "Baltimore is Everywhere." It said the group worked with the @NAAPB, and posted a screenshot attributed to NAAPB founder Jonathan Newton.
We checked the post. As far as we can tell, it's a fake.
For more details: medium.com/dfrlab/trolltr…
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