Votybot

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

Newsweek reports:

White nationalist provocateurs, a pair of fake news sites, an army of Twitter bots and other cyber tricks helped derail Democratic Senator Al Franken last year, new research shows.

While everyone has been focused on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election to support Donald Trump, the Franken takedown originated in—and was propelled by—a strategic online campaign with digital tentacles reaching to, of all places, Japan. Analysts have now mapped out how Hooters pinup girl and lad-mag model Leeann Tweeden’s initial accusation against Franken became effective propaganda after right-wing black ops master Roger Stone first hinted at the allegation.

A pair of Japan-based websites, created the day before Tweeden came forward, and a swarm of related Twitter bots made the Tweeden story go viral and then weaponized a liberal writer’s criticism of Franken. The bot army—in tandem with prominent real, live members of the far right who have Twitter followers in the millions, such as Mike Cernovich—spewed thousands of posts, helping the #FrankenFondles hashtag and the “Franken is a groper” meme effectively silence the testimonies of eight former female staffers who defended the Minnesota Democrat before he resigned last year.

And so on and so on, with a lot of details.

Bad.

Comments

5 responses to “Votybot”

  1. Lady Mondegreen Avatar
    Lady Mondegreen

    Not in the least surprised. That smelled bad to me from the beginning.

    But of course I second-guessed myself, being a liberal. And rightly so, as I like Franken and therefore am biased. But the other side has no such scruples, and that puts us at a disadvantage.

  2. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    Yeah. I was just saying much the same thing on the Facebook link to this post. I wasn’t convinced Franken’s obnoxiousness was bad enough to make him get out of the Senate, but I bit my tongue because I wasn’t sure and maybe I was just doing that “Yes but not this one guy that I like!!” thing. But knowing the groundswell wasn’t actually as big as it appeared…

    Sigh. God damn it.

  3. Ophelia Benson Avatar
    Ophelia Benson

    I found myself wondering how many of the people pouring venom on Mary Beard are Russian trolls.

  4. John the Drunkard Avatar
    John the Drunkard

    The ‘believe women’ thing gets a bit out of hand when the testimony of eight women is nullified by ONE.

    In the media crush, it is overwhelming trying to distinguish real complaints (he posed for a gross picture, he did a sketch that included coerced kissing) with the glurge (it was a sketch they had done before with no ‘improvised’ additions)

  5. Rrr Avatar
    Rrr

    Regarding Newsweek: The new owner seems to have a somewhat loose connection to ethics in journalism. Among other things, perhaps. Doesn’t mean the paper can also be right sometimes. Narrow path to walk.

    Adam Parkhomenko Retweetade

    Celeste Katz

    ‏Verifierat konto @CelesteKatzNYC 21 feb.

    “Note from the Editors: As we were reporting this story, Newsweek Media Group fired Newsweek Editor Bob Roe, Executive Editor Ken Li and Senior Politics Reporter Celeste Katz for doing their jobs.”

    From the story:

    IBT Media, which bought Newsweek in 2013 and rebranded itself as Newsweek Media Group last year, has long faced questions about its relationship with Olivet.

    Founded more than a decade ago, the Bible college has a small student body of just 1,100 and a main campus in Anza, California, as well as several extension sites across the country. It is part of a network of ventures affiliated with David Jang, the president of an evangelical group known as World Olivet Assembly. Jang became controversial in evangelical circles after some of his former followers said they were led to believe he is a messianic figure called the “Second Coming Christ.”

    Note From the Editors: As we were reporting this story, Newsweek Media Group fired Newsweek Editor Bob Roe, Executive Editor Ken Li and Senior Politics Reporter Celeste Katz for doing their jobs. Reporters Josh Keefe and Josh Saul were targeted for firing before an editor persuaded the company to reverse its decision. As we continued working on the story, we were asked to take part in a review process, which, we ultimately learned, involved egregious breaches of confidentiality and journalism ethics. We believe that subjects of the story were shown parts of the draft, if not the entire piece, prior to publication by a company executive who should not have been involved in the process. At an on-the-record interview with the subjects of this story, a company official asked editors to identify confidential sources. On-the-record sources were contacted and questioned about their discussions with Newsweek Media Group reporters. We resisted their efforts to influence the story and, after learning of the review’s ethical failings, the reporters and editors involved in this story felt they would be forced to resign. At that point, a senior Newsweek Media Group executive said the company’s owners would ensure independent review and newsroom autonomy going forward. This story was written and edited Tuesday, free of interference from company executives.

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