Anyone can use Facebook to boost a message. Even Russian agents.

There’s no longer any question at all: Russians meddled in the 2016 U.S. election, and they relied on social media tools we can all use.

Facebook and its photo-sharing site, Instagram, are mentioned dozens of times in the indictment handed down Friday by special counsel Robert Mueller. Twitter, YouTube, and PayPal are also mentioned at various points.

Mueller, for those catching up, was appointed by the Justice Department in May 2017 to investigate alleged foreign meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. The Friday indictment is only the latest development in the lengthy process of disentangling who interfered and how they did it.

The 37-page document lays out a sprawling story in which Russian actors worked to subvert the United States electoral process using many of the same social media platforms we all visit each day. They conducted their operations under the banner of the Internet Research Agency, a Kremlin-linked Russian “troll farm” which works online to influence thoughts and ideas.

The Russian influencers — that may be the most apt designation for the individuals named in Mueller’s indictment — used Facebook Groups, ad buys and paid ad boosters, and good, old-fashioned audience development tactics. All in the name of sowing chaos during a divisive election cycle.

“Information warfare,” they called it. No one even tried to pretend it was something else.

It was a bipartisan operation, focused in large part on sowing chaos throughout the U.S. electorate. Once Donald Trump entered the race, however, the emphasis shifted toward securing a win for the controversial wildcard candidate.

“They engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump,” the indictment reads.

What’s striking is how organized everything was. The IRA operated like any other internet start-up, employing hundreds of people — some of whom were unaware of their employer’s true motivations — and maintaining a corporate hierarchy that broke teams out under different banners: graphics, data analysis, search engine optimization (SEO), finance, even IT.

“Information warfare,” they called it. No one even tried to pretend it was something else.

The election tampering started with “social media pages andgroups designed to attract U.S. audiences.” The Russian influencers first pinpointed divisive social and political issues, and then posed as American activists in the creation of these groups.

By 2016, the IRA had gathered enough information and laid enough groundwork to begin an active campaign of interference. “Specialists were instructed to post content that focused on ‘politics in the USA’ and to ‘use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except [Bernie] Sanders and Trump — we support them).'”

That support later extended beyond Sanders and Trump to include other disruptive candidates. One section of the indictment points to an October 2016 Instagram post on the IRA-controlled “Blacktivist” account that read: “Choose peace and vote for Jill Stein. Trust me, it’s not a wasted vote.”

Stein, a third-party candidate, was viewed by many as a campaign spoiler whose presence in the race is part of the reason Clinton lost. The voting numbers in swing states where Trump won support that view.

All the while, bashing Clinton remained a focus. In an internal review of the IRA-created Facebook group “Secured Borders,” the company took issue with the “low number of posts dedicated to criticizing Hillary Clinton.” The group was told that, in future posts, “it is imperative to intensify criticizing Hillary Clinton.”

To be clear: These activities all made use Facebook’s most basic functions. Anyone with an account of their own can create a public or private group. Attracting members is as straightforward as finding the right packaging.

In this case, denigrating Clinton was the flashpoint used to attract pro-Trump voters. Once the audience was there, IRA employees worked to feed them a steady diet of anti-Clinton propaganda.

The Russian influencers also leapt on existing social media bandwagons. Some of the materials produced by the IRA featured hashtags related to the election, including #Trump2016, #TrumpTrain, #MAGA, #IWontProtectHillary, and #Hillary4Prison. Hashtags allowed the IRA to reach an even wider audience, since there’s no audience development required; you just broadcast your message, and the people already looking at the associated hashtag can see it.

A chilling picture starts to form as you read through Mueller’s indictment: These weren’t high-tech hackers and codebreaking experts employing skills that your average internet user lacks. They were merely tech- and social media-savvy individuals leaning on grassroots engagement strategies.

Logan Paul does the same thing. So does Black Lives Matter. So does any business or public figure, really, that hinges some part of their existence on the internet. These tools have become democratized, but that means they can be exploited for nefarious purposes.

The way forward from here isn’t clear. Mueller’s indictment paints the most complete picture to date of Russian efforts to disrupt the 2016 election. The extent to which the IRA’s bad actors relied on everyday tools to complete their mission should be alarming to each and every American.

Source:-mashable