Essay on Russian Propaganda Regarding American Government Through Social Media Accounts

Introduction

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram social media platforms have billions of active subscribers all over the world. These platforms are used to share information, which at times influences clashes between different races, religion, ethnicity, and social relations in America. In some countries especially in Russia agents are well recognized in spreading false information regarding various governments. Below is some of the propaganda shared on social media by Russians.

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Through Twitter, in the year 2014-2017 Russians spread false information regarding vaccines with an aim to influence the United States election. Messages dispatched were both pro and anti-vaccination to create false awareness. Russians playing both sides swept away American citizens trust in vaccination, exposing every American to the dangers of infectious diseases. Some tweets said ''did you know there was a secret government database of #Vaccine-damaged child? #Vaccine US''. As a result of this information, the number of children exempted from immunization in the United States for ethical or religious reasons increased. St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) in Russia had more than 250 tweets about vaccination. Also in February 2016 IRA a Russian agency was named in the United States arraignment over election meddling allegations. The agency tweets used dividing language and associated treatment to scandalous declarations about class, government legitimacy, and race. In August 2018, Facebook and Twitter admitted they have deferred or detached various accounts interrelated to Russia over mocking or influencing behavior. In July 2017 also Twitter closed numerous fake and suspicious accounts.

The report says Russians hacked 2016 US presidential elections emails and distributed throughout social media creating different reactions among Americans. Russian trolls and automated bots during elections period used social media to propagate social divisions in America by stroking dissimilarity and dissection around awkwardness of provocative topics, for example, immigration and Islamophobia. Russian agent's also stroke division around the issue like white supremacist marches and NFL players taking a knee to protest police violence. The Russians goal was to attack American societal fabric where it is most defenseless along the lines of gender, race, creed, and class. In this scenario, Russians Facebook penetration was far more extensive than Mark Zuckerberg claimed, he was pulled aside by Barack Obama in Peru to inform him he had a problem in his hands. On Facebook, Russians had interrelated imposters who had hundreds of millions of dealings with potential voters who believed they were intermingling with fellow Americans. Facebook acknowledged the fact that Russian-related account pages had thousands of ads on the during the election period. Russians related Twitter accounts circulated articles regarding Trump criticism on poor governance ability of San Juan, Puerto Rico mayor, they had a primary aim of disputing the mayor or blaming the media of fake news spread.Russians use trolls and bots (fake social media accounts that are wholly or partly-automated or run anonymously by individuals) to spread propaganda. Through this propaganda, American citizens lack faith in the government. The fake news also star chaos between the black-Americans and the white as some believe the government targets them. Mortality rate rises among children due to the immunization exemption. Russian attack on social media is more profound than the companies like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram know and claim.

Bibliography

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