The viral social media hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo, which demands that Congress release a document outlining alleged abuses by the U.S. intelligence community, appears to be entirely homegrown and not influenced by Russian bots, as top Democrats have charged.
“A knowledgeable source says that Twitter’s internal analysis has thus far found that authentic American accounts, and not Russian imposters or automated bots, are driving #ReleaseTheMemo,” The Daily Beast reports.
“There are no preliminary indications that the Twitter activity either driving the hashtag or engaging with it is either predominantly Russian.”
The #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag has been trending since last week, and the groundswell became so powerful it caught the eyes of Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]Hence the latest effort from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) to push Facebook and Twitter into investigating the #ReleaseTheMemo social media campaign. That campaign centered around a classified memo from House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), who apparently details serious flaws in the FISA warrant system that could have led to the targeting of the Trump campaign for politically partisan reasons. The campaign itself trended on social media over the past few days.
The letter from Feinstein and Schiff stated:
If these reports are accurate, we are witnessing an ongoing attack by the Russian government through Kremlin-linked social media actors directly acting to intervene and influence our democratic process. This should be disconcerting to all Americans, but especially your companies as, once again, it appears the vast majority of their efforts are concentrated on your platforms. This latest example of Russian interference is in keeping with Moscow’s concerted, covert, and continuing campaign to manipulate American public opinion and erode trust in our law enforcement and intelligence institutions.
The evidence that Russian bots somehow deeply affected the 2016 election is a cherished myth Democrats refuse to surrender — they believe that Hillary Clinton lost because social media somehow twisted the process. There’s little evidentiary support for that proposition, but Democrats don’t seem to care: it’s all an opportunity to bash the hell out of social media companies and cudgel them into downgrading opposing sources of information. – READ MORE
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