Foreign and domestic actors looking to influence the 2020 election are trying to trick real reporters into amplifying fake storylines. This tactic differs from 2016, when bad actors used fake accounts and bots to amplify disinformation to the population directly.
Why it matters: The new strategy, reminiscent of spy operations during the Cold War, is much harder for big tech platforms to police and prevent.
"Journalists have always been a target for those seeking to spread disinformation because media coverage is among the fastest ways to mainstream a narrative," says Graham Brookie, the director and managing editor of the Digital Forensic Research Lab within the Atlantic Council.
"It’s efficient, less traceable, and provides a facade of credibility in laundering a false narrative than distributing it yourself and hoping people take to it."
Driving the news: Facebook on Thursday said it uncovered and took down three coordinated misinformation campaigns originating from Russia.
The campaigns focused on creating "fictitious or seemingly independent media entities and personas to engage unwitting individuals to amplify their content," the tech giant said. They drove users to other websites controlled by those operations.
Earlier this month, Facebook said it took down a Russian-backed coordinated misinformation campaign that used a fake publication called PeaceData, which hired unwitting freelancers — including Americans — to write fake articles with the intention of having them get picked up and amplified by established news media.
How it works: Often, these meddling operations will themselves write fake stories that can be fed to real media outlets, or hire freelancers to do so.
Those stories ..
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