24 Jan 2018 6:40 pm
Related: Russian BOTS also promoted the Schumer Shutdown hashtag.RUSSIAN BOTS MIGHT BE BEHIND CONTROVERSIAL #RELEASETHEMEMO CAMPAIGN, DEMOCRATS SAY
Top congressional Democrats have asked Facebook and Twitter to investigate whether Russian bots and trolls helped spur an online campaign to release a controversial classified memo that some Republicans say shows bias in the FBI's Trump-Russian probe.
The hashtag "#ReleaseTheMemo" exploded on Twitter last Thursday, according to the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a bipartisan national security group tracking 600 Twitter accounts linked to Russian influence operations.
Senator Dianne Feinstein and Representative Adam Schiff, both of California and both top Democrats in Congressional committees probing Russian interference in the 2016 election, on Tuesday called on the social media giants to investigate.
“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,” they said in a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
"Public reports indicate that accounts linked to the Russian government are again exploiting Twitter and Facebook platforms in an effort to manipulate public opinion," the letter said.
Republican staffers drafted the memo in question, according to Feinstein and Schiff. Details are limited as it remains classified, but the Washington Post reported the memo alleges the FBI and Justice Department used information from another notorious document—the dossier alleging collusion between President Donald Trump and the Kremlin—to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter page in 2016.
RUSSIAN BOTS' TOP HASHTAG IS SCHUMER SHUTDOWN AS GOVERNMENT CLOSURE REACHES DAY THREE
As government closure reaches day three, it emerged that President Donald Trump's supporters on Twitter got a boost from the Russians in blaming Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer for the federal shutdown.
Both Republicans and Democrats used the social network to criticze opponents for the shutdown, which started Saturday after Congress could not agree on a temporary budget deal.
As of 10 p.m. Sunday evening, #SchumerShutdown was the top trending hashtag promoted by Russian propaganda bots on Twitter, according to a bipartisan national security group.
The Alliance for Securing Democracy found that #SchumerShutdown had exploded among Russian influence networks. The security group tracked approximately 600 Twitter accounts believed to be operated by Russian-tied groups and found the shutdown hashtag had surpassed popular Russian bot hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo, reported The Hill.