'Sustained and ongoing' disinformation assault targets Dem presidential candidates

[octoberlib]

A wide-ranging disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 candidates is already under way on social media, with signs that foreign state actors are driving at least some of the activity.The main targets appear to be Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), four of the most prominent announced or prospective candidates for president.


A POLITICO review of recent data extracted from Twitter and from other platforms, as well as interviews with data scientists and digital campaign strategists, suggests that the goal of the coordinated barrage appears to be undermining the nascent candidacies through the dissemination of memes, hashtags, misinformation, and distortions of their positions. But the divisive nature of many of the posts also hint at a broader effort to sow discord and chaos within the Democratic presidential primary.


The cyber propaganda — which frequently picks at the rawest, most sensitive issues in public discourse — is being pushed across a variety of platforms and with a more insidious approach than in the 2016 presidential election, when online attacks designed to polarize and mislead voters first surfaced on a massive scale.

Recent posts that have received widespread dissemination include racially inflammatory memes and messaging involving Harris, O’Rourke and Warren. In Warren’s case, a false narrative surfaced alleging that a blackface doll appeared on a kitchen cabinet in the background of the senator’s New Year’s Eve Instagram livestream.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/20/2020-candidates-social-media-attack-1176018

[Dennis Donovan]

1. Please please please be a smart political news consumer...

...and don't fall for nonsense like "Bernie Bros" again, please???

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. Too late. Saw that crap here already.

[Johnny2X2X]

11. Yup

People are not prepared for it once again. By the time a candidate emerges they'll be damaged and Trump will seize on the exact narrative. Trump is colluding again with the Russians, already.

[ananda]

30. Yeah, it's here on this forum.

It's probably everywhere.

[DownriverDem]

19. Totally agree

I will not support Bernie.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

24. ...

[JudyM]

33. LOL

Well placed.

[underpants]

36. Using that

[disillusioned73]

29. Oh, don't worry..

they're in the process of transitioning over to "Russia Bros".. look around

[pwb]

3. More politico crap.

.

[The Blue Flower]

4. Attacks on Democratic candidates here are troll bait

United we win, divided we lose. Nothing wrong with a good discussion, but we shouldn't countenance attacks on any of our excellent candidates.

[watoos]

12. Yup, the only way we lose in 2020 is if we fight among ourselves.

We all have our favorite or couple of favorites. The problem that I see is this example; I like Tulsi Gabbard because I feel we need a tough as nails candidate to beat Trump. She is former military. I'm pretty sure that of the posts about her mine were the only positive ones. She is bashed for her positions on Syria and to some extent for being a Bernie supporter. I am one of the few people here who believes that Assad did not gas his own people, I believe that Saudi Arabia was behind it to get us to go to war with Iran.

My point is this, I voted for Bernie, then Hillary. I liked them both. I didn't praise one and bash the other. I said I like Tulsi because she is tough, I also like Kamala because she is tough. If my primary were held right now I would probably vote for Kamala. My #1 reason for voting is the candidate's toughness.

How are we going to have a discussion about our presidential candidates and not go down the road to bashing the candidates we don't plan on voting for? How can we have discussions that are only positive? It isn't going to happen.

Give me a name of one of our candidates and I can smear him or her to high heaven. None of our candidates are perfect but all of our candidates are of the quality that I will gladly vote for any one of them in the general election, that's why I am going to try hard not to say negative things about them, that's the job of Republicans and Russian trolls.

[The Mouth]

23. We have to avoid the circular firing squad.

I think there are three things that need to happen in the primaries:

-we need to find the toughest, most electable, candidate
-we need to vett and find any posers such as John Edwards who are hiding something that would lose the general if released at the wrong time.
-we need to make sure that are really running a Democrat, not a third-way moderate Republican with a 'D' after their name.

[CousinIT]

5. " broader effort to sow discord and chaos within the Democratic presidential primary"

DO. NOT. FALL. FOR. THIS. AGAIN. fellow Dems!

[Farmer-Rick]

25. Yes, yes, yes

But I fear, I have already seen the seeds of discord and chaos germinate here on DU again.

Do Not denigrate and repeat these lies about our candidates. All a seed needs is a little crack to take root.

[underpants]

6. Not a tweeter but in Facebook it's all AOC all the time

oh and Ilhan Omar.

[octoberlib]

7. Right wingers stalk both of them on Twitter. I commented on an AOC post a week ago and

about 30 RW trolls responded to it. Unbelievable.

[watoos]

8. It isn't just right wingers.

[Cha]

16. Oh yeah? Who else is it?

[PTWB]

9. They HATE AOC because they fear her.

I truly feel that AOC, and many more just like her in the coming elections, are the future of our party. They will be a force to be reckoned with. That’s why the GOP has already started their smear campaigns.

[watoos]

14. Your post reeks of wisdom.

AOC has a rare talent, she can change the right wing narratives, something of great importance, controlling the message. You bet they fear her. It makes me sad when I see people on the left attacking her, sawing off the branch they are sitting on.

[underpants]

26. Yeah and I post just that in response.

Not really to instigate but to markmposts to see how off the rails they get.

[ehrnst]

32. Just like they do Pelosi.

But for some reason, until last December, that was a bad thing, and a reason that Pelosi should not be in leadership.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

34. local trumpers are seething about "socialism!"

This must be the preferred attack vector for now. I spent a few hours with a pair of trumpers this week. In between screeching about Obama and Hillary and the impending clearing of the DoJ, they were breathless about socialism.

[underpants]

35. Yep. It's all the rage with them.

Honestly if they were told to hop on one foot and bark Kroger would sound like a kennel.

[democrank]

10. I'm astounded at some of the disinformation.

We start with a molehill and three people later, it’s a mountain. A big mountain. In spite of our very real danger under Trump’s authoritarianism, we’re still arguing about 2016.

I’m attempting to plow through it all and find the candidate who most closely addresses the issues I care deeply about.

[watoos]

17. Well said,

If someone could wave a magic wand and all of our discussions regarding our candidates had to be positive.

[bobbieinok]

13. Add to this CNN's new 2020 coverage director--a GOP operative from waaay back!!

It's all so blatantly in-your-face now!!

Her name's Isgar I think. Was Sessions' employee. Called CNN 'Clinton News Network'.

[watoos]

15. CNN has always been right wing.

I only watch one person on CNN, Don Lemon.

[The Wizard]

18. Whenever I see a post

designed to cause Democratic division, that person gets put on Full Ignore. If I see them on FB they get blocked. This is not a debatable issue, just flat out rejection.

[Blue_Tires]

20. So who's the first candidate to have their dirty laundry hung on wikileaks?

Because we all know it's coming...

[uponit7771]

21. OF COURSE !!! Why wouldn't the same folk who helped ReThuglicans in 16 help them now?!

Seeing the person who they helped the first time tried his damnedest to make sure it can happen again

[Tom Rinaldo]

22. K&R

All of us angered by how Russia's trolls fanned public sentiments to make it easier for Trump to win must damn well not play into that same tactic being used again against those seeking the Democratic nomination now.

"The main targets appear to be Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)"


"undermining the nascent candidacies through the dissemination of memes, hashtags, misinformation, and distortions of their positions."

Sadly too many of us tend to fall into using the above tactics during primary season on DU.

[IronLionZion]

27. I heard Trump was born in Kenya

There is complete nonsense posted about the Dems helping illegal immigrants vote and gain citizenship (in that order) and free stuff and payoffs from George Soros for protesting and more BS.



Some of the stuff posted on DU is worse in a way, because DUers should know better.

[dhill926]

28. interesting how it seems that only one party is being targeted....

by an elementary level of deduction, it would then seem that the other party would be a beneficiary of and in collusion with, said disinformation assaults. Would the national media care to cover this?

[spanone]

31. NOTHING has been done to discourage russians from interfering in our elections...