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American extremists are consistently turning up on loosely-governed Russian social media platforms.
Why it matters: While there's no evidence to suggest that the Russian government is explicitly trying to lure American extremists to its social sites, experts note that Moscow doesn't seem interested in doing anything to discourage them, either.
Be smart: "You couldn't imagine an easier way of allowing discord to grow within the U.S. and the Western world than suddenly letting people do it to themselves," said Neil F. Johnson, a physicist at George Washington University who focuses on data science to attack complex real-world problems.
Driving the news: The gunman who killed eight people and injured seven in a shooting at a Dallas-area mall on Saturday had a profile on the Russian social networking platform OK.RU that he used to reference posts from white nationalists, NBC News reported.
- Russian leaders "certainly don't have a huge incentive to try to clamp down on it," said Jared Holt, a senior research manager at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
Between the lines: The Texas shooter was not the first American to use Russian social media sites or obscure online platforms to connect with fellow extremists around pro-Russia narratives.
- His OK.RU profile also linked to extremist sites, such as 4chan, and content from white nationalists.
- Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman who was charged with leaking highly-sensitive classified documents, belonged to a slew of game forums and private online chat rooms on platforms like Discord, where members showed support for Russia's war on Ukraine and talked disparagingly about Black, Jewish and trans communities, per The Wall Street Journal.
- The far-right "boogaloo" movement "has kind of migrated around the internet throughout the years, and at one point made a pit stop at VK," Holt said, referring to VKontakte, the largest social media site in Russia.
- Telegram, Holt added, "is the elephant in the room." The app, which was created in 2013 by the founders of VK, is commonly used to connect extremists and spread hate speech, although the company has not been based in Russia for years.
- Johnson noted that ISIS has long used the openness of Russian platforms to radicalize recruits, especially as U.S. tech sites continue to crack down on terrorist content and hate speech.
Of course they are. I'd proffer 10% of the crazies are really Russobots.
American extremists linked to Russian sites
The online postings of far-right extremists keep turning up on Russia's loosely moderated social media platforms.
Of course they are. I'd proffer 10% of the crazies are really Russobots.
American extremists linked to Russian sites
The online postings of far-right extremists keep turning up on Russia's loosely moderated social media platforms.
Not any more:
How many of our far right russ bots post on the Rus sites?Of course they are. I'd proffer 10% of the crazies are really Russobots.
American extremists linked to Russian sites
The online postings of far-right extremists keep turning up on Russia's loosely moderated social media platforms.
You can do better than silly can't you? We have millions of kids logging on to the Chi/Com TickTock and some unknown babe named Sarah Fischer sees Russian web sites lurking in the web shadows. How do we know AXIOS isn't a front for Russian propaganda?... and, if we are to be as silly as whitehall, all the nazi propaganda on Newsmax?
RW extremism went global a long time ago.Of course they are. I'd proffer 10% of the crazies are really Russobots.
American extremists linked to Russian sites
The online postings of far-right extremists keep turning up on Russia's loosely moderated social media platforms.
Do you really think Russia is commie?How do we know "AXIOS" isn't a Russian site? Why hunt down Russian sites when you can get all the commie propaganda you want on CNN?
