Create new account | My Profile | My Account | My Bookmarks | My Inbox | Help | Log in

Home Latest Threads Greatest Threads Forums & Groups My Subscriptions My Posts

DU Home » Latest Threads » Forums & Groups » Main » Latest Breaking News (Forum) » Study suggests Russian so...

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 03:57 PM

DonViejo (60,536 posts)

Study suggests Russian social media trolls had impact on 2016 election

Source: Axios

Joe Uchill 2 hours ago| updated 4 mins ago

A new study found that for every 25,000 retweets that a known Russian troll account received during the 2016 election, Donald Trump's poll numbers jumped 1%.

Why it matters: The study, conducted by a team headed at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville and published in the peer-reviewed University of Illinois-Chicago journal "First Monday," suggests that — despite protests to the contrary by Republicans and Trump allies — the Russian disinformation campaign was successful in influencing the 2016 election.

Details: The Tennessee-Knoxville study analyzed 770,005 tweets in English from known Russian troll accounts, as well as corresponding poll data from FiveThirtyEight's archive of multiple polling outlets.

Every 25,000 retweets of Russian accounts correlated to a 1% increase in Trump's poll numbers one week later.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/russia-interference-trolls-impact-2016-election-eff627d5-f1b3-48fd-8745-449262880e16.html

15 replies, 1480 views

Thread info Bookmark this thread Trash this thread

Reply to this thread

Back to top Alert abuse

Always highlight: 10 newest replies | Replies posted after I mark a forum

Replies to this discussion thread

15 replies	Author	Time	Post
Study suggests Russian social media trolls had impact on 2016 election (Original post)	DonViejo	Jul 2019	OP
Was there any doubt left about the Russian interference?	True Dough	Jul 2019	#1
virtually none	stopdiggin	Jul 2019	#7
In other breaking news: water is wet.	mac56	Jul 2019	#2
And, water is wet. nt	jrthin	Jul 2019	#3
I assume that it is likely that ANY intervention that big - if well designed - would have an impact	karynnj	Jul 2019	#4
That's why everyone has to get involved	awesomerwb1	Jul 2019	#5
Why can't twitter recognize where these tweets are coming from and block them?	kimbutgar	Jul 2019	#6
if you know their nationality?	stopdiggin	Jul 2019	#8
Twitter can require verifiable ID and other methods to open an account	PSPS	Jul 2019	#9
K & R for exposure.	SunSeeker	Jul 2019	#10
That's evidence, NOT PROOF...	Brother Buzz	Jul 2019	#11
The biggest take on this is the stupidity of the USA voters	Perseus	Jul 2019	#12
Carter: He's an illegitimate POTUS.	BigmanPigman	Jul 2019	#13
Greenwald and Assange were unavailable for comment	Blue_Tires	Jul 2019	#14
This just in	mahina	Jul 2019	#15

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 03:58 PM

True Dough (15,070 posts)

1. Was there any doubt left about the Russian interference?

Only Donny and Vladdy's denials.

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to True Dough (Reply #1)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 04:34 PM

stopdiggin (8,296 posts)

7. virtually none

this only adds some solid numbers and stats. and note -- only include "confirmed" Russian actors/accounts. need to keep in mind that there were other agents involved -- and that Americans themselves were involved in a lot of misinformation, deliberate and otherwise.
(Note: American politics, including dirty tricks, misinformation, ratf**ing .. as ugly as they might be, are ALL in a different category from foreign intervention. this would seem to be a fairly simple concept. tongue in cheek.)

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 04:16 PM

mac56 (17,471 posts)

2. In other breaking news: water is wet.

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 04:16 PM

jrthin (4,713 posts)

3. And, water is wet. nt

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 04:18 PM

karynnj (59,163 posts)

4. I assume that it is likely that ANY intervention that big - if well designed - would have an impact

However, as many things happen at the same time, I think that assuming that ALL the change in Trump's numbers was due to the trolls is a very poor assumption. Not to mention, correlation does NOT - in and of itself - prove causality.

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 04:28 PM

awesomerwb1 (4,110 posts)

5. That's why everyone has to get involved

For example if you don't a Twitter, get an account and retweet the good guys.

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 04:34 PM

kimbutgar (18,431 posts)

6. Why can't twitter recognize where these tweets are coming from and block them?

If they have an IP or DNS address can’t they just block those incoming tweets and thwart them?

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to kimbutgar (Reply #6)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 04:47 PM

stopdiggin (8,296 posts)

8. if you know their nationality?

IP and DNS are child's play to mask. If you're talking about content .. How do you tell the difference between a Russian troll and an ordinary (term advisedly) MAGA maggot? Or indeed a DU member that is going hyperbolic on a particular subject? We joke about poor English and hackneyed phrases, but there again .. Seen what a lot of US citizens post?

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to stopdiggin (Reply #8)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 05:12 PM

PSPS (12,893 posts)

9. Twitter can require verifiable ID and other methods to open an account

Twitter knows the troll accounts. The Tennessee-Knoxville study was able to identify them too. Twitter is reluctant to put a stop to it only because of $$$$.

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 05:18 PM

SunSeeker (49,154 posts)

10. K & R for exposure.

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 05:41 PM

Brother Buzz (33,584 posts)

11. That's evidence, NOT PROOF...

SO STOP SAYING THAT!

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 06:00 PM

Perseus (4,341 posts)

12. The biggest take on this is the stupidity of the USA voters

Most people have become so lazy they only get their information from news outlets, they don't bother to check what they read on Facebook, what the hear on Fox, they have become addicted to their phones, and the TV is almost religion.

I was in New York a few weeks ago, I remember when long time ago you would see people with books, reading, now almost every one in the subway is texting, hypnotized by their phones. Russians have understood this addiction to phones and TV so they have exploited it.

Americans should be mad that they have allowed the Russians to fool them, Americans should learn not to trust anything on Facebook, Fox news and other outlets that help deceive them, how many times are you going to allow someone to make a fool out of you?

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 06:57 PM

BigmanPigman (48,874 posts)

13. Carter: He's an illegitimate POTUS.

ANNULL HIS PRESIDENCY, after you indict him!!!!! Ron Perlman and I agree on this one.

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 07:30 PM

Blue_Tires (55,445 posts)

14. Greenwald and Assange were unavailable for comment

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Response to DonViejo (Original post)

Mon Jul 1, 2019, 07:58 PM

mahina (16,079 posts)

15. This just in

🧐

Reply to this post

Back to top Alert abuse Link here Permalink

Latest Breaking News (Forum)