Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumSanders implies Russia, not his supporters may be to blame for online vitriol-Experts aren't so sure
LAS VEGAS Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) mounted a new defense Wednesday for the toxicity emanating from pockets of his presidential campaigns supporters, implying it was possible Russian actors were again manipulating social media to incite Democratic divisions.
Sanderss language was indirect, offered on the debate stage here as his opponents faulted him for the behavior of his most strident fans. It drew criticism from experts in disinformation, who said they had no direct evidence the Kremlin had masqueraded as Sanders voters to interfere in the 2020 race much as Russian trolls had done four years earlier.
All of us remember 2016, and what we remember is efforts by Russians and others to try to interfere in our elections and divide us up, said the senator from Vermont. Im not saying thats happening, but it would not shock me.
Even the insinuation that foreign actors may be to blame for controversial online behavior by Sanderss most dedicated followers was an extraordinary indication of the extent to which election interference looms over the 2020 contest. It illustrated how few standards exist for assessing claims of meddling by Russia or other malicious actors, which are being vetted by the very same tech giants whose platforms became host to disinformation that went undetected four years ago.
More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/20/sanders-implies-russia-not-his-supporters-may-be-blame-online-vitriol-experts-arent-so-sure/#click=https://t.co/xTd00e6VY0
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
George II
(67,782 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Chemisse
(30,817 posts)Bernie certainly did nothing to chastise them at the time - or later, for all we know. He seems totally fine with the "Russian" antics.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Farmer-Rick
(10,212 posts)Like when they got in the middle of Black Lives matter and the Secessionist movement in California.
"In 1984, ahead of the Summer Olympics, Soviet intelligence forged what looked like threatening letters from the Ku Klux Klan to African and Asian nations to try to scare them from sending their teams to the games in Los Angeles."
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/30/560042987/russians-targeted-u-s-racial-divisions-long-before-2016-and-black-lives-matter
Now they use Twitter and Facebook in the same way.
"Social media accounts with ties to Russia pushed a huge Twitter trend in favour of an independent California on US election night 2016, BBC Trending has learned. The campaign was one of at least two popular online independence drives with links to the Kremlin."
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-41853131
That's NPR and the BBC writing about Russian influence of racial issues in the US. Is it really a huge leap to believe they are pushing this immigration issue to divide and conquer?
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)and Russian propaganda isn't bothering with it...
Ben Nimmo, director of investigations at the disinformation-tracking firm Graphika, told The Daily Beast that, after 2016, Russian trolls have tried harder to stay undetected, making finding them a tricky process.
Actually proving that a particular account is run from Russia means crossing a high evidence bar. There are far more accusations of Russian trolls or Russian bots going around than there are actual known Russian assets that have been taken down.
Oftentimes, Russian covert operations on social media act as echo chambers for the issues and priorities of overt Russian propaganda outlets like Sputnik and RT. Jessica Brandt, director of research at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, which tracks Russian state news trends and disinformation, said Russian outlets havent made much of the Nevada union feud.
Weve seen no evidence of that, she told The Daily Beast, adding that the Alliances dashboard for tracking overt Russian propaganda turned up only one story on the Nevada issue.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/experts-call-bs-on-bernies-russian-bot-theory
And there's a whole lot more evidence that Sanders supporters would harass the Union.
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/462344-working-families-party-director-responds-to-harassment-after-warren-endorsement
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/07/politics/bernie-sanders-social-media-attacks-invs/index.html
You know, no other candidate felt a need to tell their supporters not to harass his opponents.
Bernie Sanders Politely Asks Supporters Not to Harass His Opponents
Why would Russian Bots try to make Sanders supporters, and by extension Sanders look bad, as this harassment does - so much that he's trying to claim that it's not his supporters?
It's been shown that he's the number one choice of the GOP as an opponent to Trump, so it makes no sense that Russia would be trying to tank Sanders, because it would run counter to the GOP efforts to re-elect Trump.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
jmg257
(11,996 posts)You deported three million people, one of the protesters yelled as the former vice president began his closing remarks. The demonstrators were quickly escorted away.
RAICES Action, an immigrant rights group, said on Twitter that it was responsible for the protest. The demonstrators were immediately escorted out of the debate, and Mr. Biden resumed his closing statement.
Link to tweet
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
mcar
(42,376 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Squinch
(51,021 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
lsewpershad
(2,620 posts)so-called experts?
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
beastie boy
(9,460 posts)And Rudy will get to the bottom of it!
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
tishaLA
(14,176 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
still_one
(92,422 posts)Keith Ellison used when he said he has yet to see a Sander's supporter behaving badly, and suggested no one could demonstrate such a thing was happening
Needless to say, he received quite a lot of responses
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
lapfog_1
(29,226 posts)and surrogates.
Is he saying they are paid Russian agents?
If so, why doesn't he just fire them?
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
subana
(586 posts)why doesn't he simply advise them not to use offensive tactics? There's nothing wrong with doing that or at least give them some appropriate guidelines to follow. That would end this issue. The answer is he doesn't do this because he likes what his people are doing.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Jose Garcia
(2,605 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
or a few bad apples excuse. If people who are supporting your campaign are doing things that reflect badly on your campaign, why would you not tell them to knock it off!
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
MrsCoffee
(5,803 posts)Russia was nothing more than a distraction he said. Totally downplayed their helping his campaign. His surrogates all spinning the nothing to see here routine.
But now the Russians must be the real Bernie Bros.
Give me a fucking break, lol.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Fiendish Thingy
(15,658 posts)They briefed Congress last week and stated that Russia is meddling with Dem primaries.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided