Russian-Linked Ads Swarmed Multiple Platforms During Campaign, and It's Still Going On

Propaganda created by Russian agents on the game Pokémon Go. Source: CNN

Evidence is mounting that agents of the Russian government bought advertisements on social media platforms with the intention of pushing the U.S. presidential election toward Donald Trump and away from Hillary Clinton. Facebook has agreed to turn over more than 3,000 Russian-linked advertisements to Congress. The ads were to be turned in Monday, according to the New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/01/technology/facebook-russia-ads.html

CNN reported today that Russian agents used the game Pokémon Go in an attempt to inflame racial tensions in the U.S.
http://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2017/10/12/russian-meddling-extended-to-pokemon-go-byers-bts.cnn

From The Verge:
​
“A Tumblr page linked to Russia’s now-notorious Internet Research Agency promoted a contest encouraging people sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement to play the game near famous sites of police brutality. Players were told to change their characters’ names to the victims of those incidents — an apparent effort to inflame racial tensions.

“The Tumblr page was linked to Do Not Shoot Us, a multi-platform campaign designed to mimic aspects of Black Lives Matter.”
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/12/16466418/russia-pokemon-go-election-meddling-black-lives-matter
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/smartphone-app-pokemon-go-racial-tensions/2017/10/12/id/819374/

In mid-September of this year, a petition on the White House website appeared that pushed a Russian agent-created Facebook page called blackmattersus.mvmnt. This page has been deleted.

The petition was created after Facebook had admitted that Russian agents bought ads on their platform, and were continuing to interfere by posting on social media with manufactured American personas.
https://thinkprogress.org/black-matters-us-site-90625b18f262/

Pinterest admitted this week that Russian ads pushing a Trump political agenda appeared on their site.
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/355022-pinterest-acknowledges-russians-used-site-as-repository-for-political

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/10/11/how-russian-content-ended-up-on-pinterest/?utm_term=.e9e15e781511

Twitter had an integral role in dividing and confusing American voters during the campaign, and it is still refusing to filter out bots, which are accounts created by an algorithm, not a real person. The platform acted as a conduit for extremist political memes (photos and artwork designed to elicit a strong emotional response) on both sides of many divisive issues. The aim appears to have been to create a chaotic, contentious, combative climate in our social interactions.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/04/what-twitter-going-do-about-disinformation-campaigns/

From Recode:

“Sources have said the Russian-backed ads even took both sides of contentious issues, like Black Lives Matter or gun control, in a bid to intensify public debate and foment discord. Sources speaking with Recode, along with a series of reports from other outlets like CNN, have suggested these ads and other forms of Russia-supplied content explicitly targeted crucial election swing states.”
https://www.recode.net/2017/10/6/16419388/facebook-google-twitter-russia-ads-2016-election-president-donald-trump

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Sources: Above, ​New York Times; below, Twitter (note the date - May 30, 2017 - is after the election)