• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

First Batch of Russian Facebook Ads released. Feature Hillary as Satan, Buff Bernie, Pro/Anti-BLM

Kirblar

Kirblar

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
30,744
This stuff is wild.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/01/social-media-ads-russia-wanted-americans-to-see-244423

black-lives.png


Posted on: Facebook
Created: July 2015
Targeted: People ages 18 or older in Georgia, Maryland, Missouri or Virginia
Results: 201,428 impressions, 12,127 clicks
Ad spend: 53,425 rubles ($915)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
blue-lives.png


Posted on: Facebook
Created: October 2016
Targeted: People age 18 or older who like the Facebook group "Being Patriotic"
Results: 3,362 impressions, 761 clicks
Ad spend: 500 rubles ($8.56)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
buff-bernie.png


Posted on: LBGT United group on Facebook
Created: March 2016
Targeted: People ages 18 to 65+ in the United States who like "LGBT United"
Results: 848 impressions, 54 clicks
Ad spend: 111.49 rubles ($1.92)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

jesus.png

Posted on: Facebook
Created: October 2016
Targeted: People age 18 to 65+ interested in Christianity, Jesus, God, Ron Paul and media personalities such as Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Mike Savage, among other topics
Results: 71 impressions, 14 clicks
Ad spend: 64 rubles ($1.10)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

There are more at the link.
 

Deleted member 2474

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,318
It should be obvious that Russia's goals are not pro-Trump per se, but rather pro-creating disorder in America, which supporting Trump happened to further. They took ads out for anything and everything on all sides of arguments to divide people.
 
RailWays

RailWays

One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
15,665
And America gobbled it up hook, line, and sinker.
I definitely remember seeing that BeingPatriotic one.

Sleazy as hell that Facebook sat back and did nothing
 

Deleted member 9972

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
684
The craziest part I've seen so far was the Facebook groups they created to try and stir up violence through protest. Ex: It turns out the protest/counter-protest from this article in 2016 was organized by two Facebook groups, "Heart of Texas" and "United Muslims of America". Both Facebook groups were actually made by Russian operatives, and the "Heart of Texas" group was encouraged to bring guns. It goes further than the election. They're literally trying to create and stir up environments where Americans will kill other Americans.
 
jack_package_200

jack_package_200

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,537
Sounds about right. I imagine once it became clear very very early on that Hillary and Trump were the frontrunners, the Russians went all in on anti-hillary.
 
Chamaeleonx

Chamaeleonx

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,348
RailWays said:
And America gobbled it up hook, line, and sinker.
I definitely remember seeing that BeingPatriotic one.

Sleazy as hell that Facebook sat back and did nothing
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Critical thinking was never the strong suit of Americans or humans in general. Emotions often influence our decisions why ads like these are so effective. You need to take a step back and reflect to come to the conclusion that none of these things mentioned should have any sway on your vote and you should vote for the candidate that furthers your society closer to the neutral ideals of society.
 
Inuhanyou

Inuhanyou

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,214
New Jersey
Creating discord in America against established order by rival governments? Sounds like something governments would do.

Everything is a narrative pushed by someone or against someone, whether it be foreign powers, corporate institutions, or what have you. It ends up falling to the individual to make critical decision making skills about what to believe
 

Shoeless

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,967
I'm curious as to how many Trump supporters will now claim they knew these ads were Russian, but, since the Trump supporters themselves want to be Russian, it's not a big deal.
 
0ptimusPayne

0ptimusPayne

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,745
And Americans ate that shit up...That's why I don't mess with social media. literally have people 6,000 miles away trolling and pulling strings on hundreds of thousands of gullible people, and manipulating them into believing/doing whatever they saw fit. What a time to be alive..
 
Chopchop

Chopchop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,171
I'm shocked at how cheap these ads are.

So much influence for so little cost. It's evil but incredibly clever.
 

Deleted member 7082

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,405
detuned radios said:
It should be obvious that Russia's goals are not pro-Trump per se, but rather pro-creating disorder in America, which supporting Trump happened to further. They took ads out for anything and everything on all sides of arguments to divide people.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I guess I'll have to wait to see more ads, because I don't see any pro Clinton ones here.

I know Russia wanted to divide. I also know that the Kremlin has a very specific anti-Clinton position as well. And "dividing the country" in a generic sense before an election she is expected to win can easily be an attempt to make her lose. So I'm not sold on this idea that they didn't work toward a specific outcome.
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
Dyle

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,873
Buff Bernie is so crazy that I would have been tempted to click on it, just out of sheer curiosity. I sincerely hope something significant comes out of this and prevents this kind of influence in the future, it's absolutely destructive to the basic tenets of our representative democracy
 

MasterChumly

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,893
detuned radios said:
It should be obvious that Russia's goals are not pro-Trump per se, but rather pro-creating disorder in America, which supporting Trump happened to further. They took ads out for anything and everything on all sides of arguments to divide people.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
???? It's incredibly obvious they are pro trump and anti hilllary. All of the ads shown support that. They created a sophisticated campaign to get him elected and this just furthers the evidence for that.
 
MoonScented

MoonScented

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
685
Facebook is absolutely disgusting and needs to be held accountable. Mark Zuckerberg is somewhere right now sitting in his ivory tower being waited on hand and foot while decent, hardworking people have suffered.
 
UltimateHigh

UltimateHigh

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,500
detuned radios said:
It should be obvious that Russia's goals are not pro-Trump per se, but rather pro-creating disorder in America, which supporting Trump happened to further. They took ads out for anything and everything on all sides of arguments to divide people.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Russia is anti-Hilary regardless of the discord they're trying to sow, that much is abundantly clear.
 
Royalan

Royalan

I can say DEI; you can't.
Moderator
Oct 24, 2017
11,908
detuned radios said:
It should be obvious that Russia's goals are not pro-Trump per se, but rather pro-creating disorder in America, which supporting Trump happened to further. They took ads out for anything and everything on all sides of arguments to divide people.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yep.

And look to figureheads on the far right AND left who seemed to act strangely when it came to Russia.

Here's lookin at you, Jill Stein.
 
Mona

Mona

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
26,151
that jesus one is blowing my mind, people dont seriously buy into that stuff right?

are there honestly people out there that create some kind of link between Hillary and Satan in their heads?

"trump is an honest man who cares deeply for this country" lmao
 
Muppet of a Man

Muppet of a Man

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,667
This type of Russian tactic has been known for some time now. Please watch Hypernormalization if you haven't already. They discuss it in detail.
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
Mona said:
that jesus one is blowing my mind, people dont seriously buy into that stuff right?

are there honestly people out there that create some kind of link between Hillary and Satan in their heads?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Some extremely devout Evangelicals maybe. I know there are quite a few who think Trump is chose by God to be president.
 
Palas

Palas

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,731
Can we pause for a moment and appreciate how ABSOLUTELY SILLY some of the ads are and how little money they invested in some of then, engaging maybe 10 people at a time?
 
Ebullientprism

Ebullientprism

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,529
detuned radios said:
It should be obvious that Russia's goals are not pro-Trump per se, but rather pro-creating disorder in America, which supporting Trump happened to further. They took ads out for anything and everything on all sides of arguments to divide people.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Pretty much. It was a free bonus that Trump also happens to be exponentially increasing the divide since becoming the president. They are probably loving the fact that Trump with his tweets is more divisive after becoming president than their entire ad campaign.

Straight Edge said:
Is it illegal to run ads paid for by a foreign power?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

All ads? Surely not. There are tons of actual reasons why foreign countries would wish to advertise in a different country. Tourism, exported products, sports, music, arts etc etc.

Political ads? maybe.
 

Deleted member 20603

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
946
MasterChumly said:
???? It's incredibly obvious they are pro trump and anti hilllary. All of the ads shown support that. They created a sophisticated campaign to get him elected and this just furthers the evidence for that.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I agree with you, but also think that they can engineer narratives that pit groups against each other. You could start a facebook group today titled "Liberals Against Guns" and say that you're going to go door to door taking away guns, and people would go literally wild and say "see, they are communists!" This would further divides in the country even if it was a fake group.

I also think it was telling that Jill Stein attended the celebration of Russian state owned media, RT. What reasonable explanation could she have? It's literally state run propaganda, and it's all over youtube.
 
Mona

Mona

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
26,151
Kthulhu said:
Some extremely devout Evangelicals maybe. I know there are quite a few who think Trump is chose by God to be president.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

well God would have chosen to create this universe omnisciently aware that trump was going to become president

so i cant fault them for coming to that second conclusion, its not only consistent with what i assume they already believe, but almost a necessary consequence of it

if you believe in the existence of what most people call god, im not sure how you could come to any other conclusion
 
Cream

Cream

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,316
Note that the ads targeting repubicans and conservatives are largely mischaracterizing and naming enemies, while the ads targeting democrats are largely about promoting equality, justice for all, and protecting disenfranchised minorities.
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
Palas said:
Can we pause for a moment and appreciate how ABSOLUTELY SILLY some of the ads are and how little money they invested in some of then, engaging maybe 10 people at a time?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Until those 10 people share it with their friends and family, and then their friends and family share it and it keeps going.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.