Parler, Gab, Other US Social Media Platforms Allegedly Linked to Russian Trolls

After running a disinformation campaign in the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections, another set of Russian trolls were identified to be operating amid the campaigns for the November U.S. elections.

Leo, a mysterious European, shared some familiar and false claims on the social media site, Parler. His account was already identified and reported by Reuters last week as part of an alleged disinformation campaign that is being run by Russian group on three major social media network. According to Graphika, an independent research group, it "resembled" the 2016 media campaign that was linked to Russia's Internet Research Agency.

The troll accounts continue to operate in Parler and Gab, even after being reported as part of the operation. While Parler said it did not act because it did directly not hear about the issue from U.S. law enforcement, Andrew Torba, Gab's founder said the alleged Russian accounts "can speak freely" on the platform like others.

However, their inaction allowed the Russian group to continue with its disinformation campaign, which has been targeting American voters and was discovered after a tip to the FBI.

The New York-based firm Graphika learned that the campaign aims to promote the president's re-election while degrading the opposition, just like what happened to Hillary Clinton in the last elections.

Graphika said this was the first known Parler- and Gab-based Russian disinformation operation. The firm, which works closely with social media platforms like Facebook, this campaign would seek to influence conservatives through "divisive and hyper-partisan content."

"Threat actors consistently look for the soft underbelly of the Internet by targeting platforms where they think they won't be detected or taken down," said Graphika chief executive John Kelly adding that this is the reason independent research is highly significant. Kelly also noted that there is a consensus that foreign disinformation campaigns are threatens democratic integrity, but it should also include smaller platforms.

Gab and Parler on hosting the Russian campaign

Last week, a Graphica released a report saying that the Newsroom for American and European Based Citizens (NAEBC), a Russian-operated fictitious group, has been operating in social media networks in the U.S. to push immigration, American racial issues, and globalism narratives.

NAEBC had a website, Twitter account, and LinkedIn accounts, which have already been removed. While Facebook blocked NAEBC from opening an account on its site, its affiliate accounts on 14,000 on Parler and 3,000 followers on Gab. These include Leo's account whose describes himself as "Against censorship."

Founded in 2018, the social media network Parler, which was preferred by conservatives, already has about 4 million users and has recently emerged as an alternative to Twitter. Its high-profile users include Republican members of Congress Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan as well as Wisconsin Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. The report questioned Parler's limited action in moderating the content on its platform.

Parler spokeswoman Kate Brown also said that while "no one has filed a complaint" or has alerted the company about the alleged fraud in any way, they welcome Graphika to file a report if this seems to be a legitimate threat.

Meanwhile, Gab's founder Torba directly criticized Graphika's report and said that they will not "take any action against a handful of 'Russian' Gab accounts that simply share blog posts with opinion and news pieces."

Torba did not confirm whether the law enforcement had contacted Gab, which already has 1.4 million users, regarding the alleged Russian accounts.

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Written by CJ Robles