How Unwitting Americans Encountered Russian Operatives Online
By SCOTT SHANE FEB. 18, 2018
They were politically active Americans scattered around the country, dedicating their spare time to the 2016 presidential campaign or various causes. And the seeming fellow activists who called them to rallies via Facebook, or joined in the free-for-all on Twitter, appeared unremarkable.
Except that their English sometimes seemed a little odd.
We are looking for friendship because we are fighting for the same reasons, someone purporting to be with an online group calling itself Blacktivist wrote via Twitter to the Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III, a Baltimore pastor, in April 2016. Actually we are open for your thoughts and offers.
In late October 2016, in Nederland, Tex., the Texas Nationalist Movement got a Facebook message from someone representing a group called Heart of Texas, which planned to organize rallies in favor of Texas secession on the eve of the election. But on a follow-up call, something was off, said Daniel Miller, the president of the Texas Nationalist Movement.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/us/politics/russian-operatives-facebook-twitter.html