Twitter finds hundreds of accounts tied to Russian operatives

[ScienceRocks]

Twitter finds hundreds of accounts tied to Russian operatives
Source: The Washington Post


By Elizabeth Dwoskin and Adam Entous September 28 at 3:57 PM

Quote

Twitter has shut down 201 accounts that were tied to the same Russian operatives who posted thousands of political ads on Facebook, the company told congressional investigators Thursday and revealed in a blog in the afternoon.

The company also found three accounts from the news site RT — which Twitter linked to the Kremlin — that spent $274,100 in ads on Twitter’s platform in 2016.
The meeting between the company and Congressional investigators is part of a widening government probe into how Russian operatives used Facebook, Google, Twitter and other social media platforms to sow division and disinformation during the 2016 campaign. Those companies are under increasing pressure from Capitol Hill to investigate Russian meddling on their platforms and are facing the possibility of new regulations that could impact their massive advertising businesses.

The Twitter accounts, which were taken down over the last month, were associated with 470 accounts and pages that Facebook last month said came from the International Research Agency, a Russia-connect troll farm. Twitter said the groups on Facebook had 22 corresponding Twitter accounts. Twitter then found an additional 179 accounts linked to those 22.

Read more: https://www.washingt...6efa_story.html



Facebook and now Twitter has now been discovered to be full of russian trolls/hackers. There's no question that russia messed with our election.

 

[SYTFE]

Yup. Even this forum has several Russian trolls.

 

[Sunni Man]

Twitter must be some hardcore voodoo to be able to influence elections and bring down governments. .....

 

[ScienceRocks]

I was watching Rachael last night and pretty much russia is doing this to every country and attempting to put right wing anti-democratic governments into place. It is really fucking sick.

 

[Siete]

I was watching Rachael last night and pretty much russia is doing this to every country and attempting to put right wing anti-democratic governments into place. It is really fucking sick.

the orange sonofabitch wants better relations with Russia ... yeah, so Russia can get closer under the guise of "buddies".

 

[Sunni Man]

Twitter is the devil.

The world would be a different place if Stalin had access to Twitter. .....

 

[ScienceRocks]

These conservative bastards would sell this nation out to russia in a second to push their bullshit.

A bunch of cock sucking traitors.

 

[Camp]

Yup. Even this forum has several Russian trolls.

There are lots of dupes who are influenced by the Russian trolls too. They really are easy to spot if you are looking.

 

[Sunni Man]

I was watching Rachael last night.

And therein is the root of your problem. ....

 

[ColonelAngus]

Twitter was complicit in rigging the election for TRUMP?

WOW.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Russian hacker wanted by U.S. tells court he worked for Putin's party
Source: Reuters

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 / 12:09 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Jack Stubbs

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian hacker arrested in Spain on a U.S. warrant said on Thursday he previously worked for President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party and feared he would be tortured and killed if extradited, RIA news agency reported.

Peter Levashov was arrested while on holiday in Barcelona in April. U.S. prosecutors later charged him with hacking offences, accusing him of operating a network of tens of thousands of infected computers used by cyber criminals.

Levashov’s comments offered a rare glimpse into the relationship between cyber criminals and the Russian state. U.S. officials say Russian authorities routinely shield hackers from prosecution abroad before recruiting them for espionage work.

-snip-

He told a court in Madrid on Thursday that he had worked for the United Russia party for the last 10 years. “I collected different information about opposition parties and delivered it to the necessary people at the necessary time,” RIA quoted him as saying.

Read more: Russian hacker wanted by U.S. tells court he worked for Putin's party