According to Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI official, the data around Tweets that supported Kyle Rittenhouse showed that the majority came from foreign countries. Most were traced to China, Russia, and Europe. This is not the first time that Americans have endured Russian operatives trying to fan the flames of racial divide, and is something that was largely seen during the Black Lives Matter movement.
California Western School of Law’s William J. Aceves started a discussion in 2019 about how heavily Russia was also able to impact the previous election through the use of fake social media accounts. He said that, “Throughout the campaign, Russian operatives created hundreds of fake personas on social media platforms and then posted thousands of advertisements and messages that sought to promote racial divisions in the United States.”
By using this tactic, other countries can utilize a “divide and conquer” approach on the United States, as Figliuzzi explains. This strategy is being taken advantage of for all of America’s most heated and racially divisive moments, from the election to the Black Lives Matter Movement and now for the Rittenhouse trial.
Though the social media posts may be fake, the damage they have on both individuals and America as a whole are completely real. Social media has made it possible to manipulate an entire country with technology that is not even particularly complex. Though most people would like to think that they would not fall victim to such propaganda, especially foreign propaganda for U.S. politics, it is all too easy to become a victim of such a trap.
The newest information about pro-Rittenhouse social media posts is that of over 30,000 tweets that were randomly selected, almost all 30,000 were confirmed to be from outside America. About 17,000 were from hidden geographic locations, but Figliuzzi was able to confirm their foreign origins. Only about 3,000 came from inside the United States.
Divide & conquer: A sample of 32,315 pro-Rittenhouse hashtag tweets, Nov 19-20, showed 29,609 with disabled geolocation. Of those, 17,701 were listed as “foreign”, but a deep scrub revealed most of those were in Russia, China, and the EU. @Tara_Writer [1] @TAPSTRIMEDIA [2] #Rittenhouse [3]
— Frank Figliuzzi (@FrankFigliuzzi1) November 21, 2021 [4]
Of these tweets, we conducted manual validation (yes, manual) – including confirmation of other indicators (language, location reference, self id, etc). The original data set was a representative sampling, and searched for key hashtags – #rittenhouse [5] #FreeKyle [6] and more
— Tara Lemieux, Writer (@Tara_Writer) November 21, 2021 [7]
Bottom Line Up Front: Be mindful and be wary of these attempts to co-opt or influence narratives. Use critical thinking, verify everything, and remember to take a pause.
— Tara Lemieux, Writer (@Tara_Writer) November 21, 2021 [8]
Just be careful guys, remember 2016. Russia wants nothing more than to see our country divided, and a certain party is all too willing to allow it to happen.