There’s an unprecedented attack happening on the U.S. democracy…and it’s all happening on your social media accounts.
Here’s what you need to know and what you can do:
Half of Donald Trump’s Twitter followers are fake, according to Newsweek. These are likely Russian orchestrated bots, and part of the extraordinary stealth data machine Trump built to get his way into the White House. These (and others from many accounts) will spam and troll your social media accounts.
President Trump has granted a waiver to Kellyanne Conway and Stephen Bannon so they no longer need to comply with White House ethics rules, according to The Daily Beast. This allows them to work with corporations and lobbyists with whom they worked before. This mean the uber wealthy Mercer family is now directly using its influence machine in coordination with the White House (more on them here). They own Breitbart and Cambridge Analytica which psychographically target your social media profiles.
Nothing will beat the bots and Trump more than people power.
Here’s what to do:
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Share and like. Liking is great but the best thing you can do for content you trust is to share the post. Even better, post the URL of the content directly into your Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit accounts.
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Fight fake news. These are sites that consistently run Trump and Russian propaganda: Breitbart, Infowars, Sputnik, and Russia Today. There are many others. If your friends post from there, comment on them by questioning the content and report the content to Facebook and Twitter.
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Beware the trolls. When you read the words “fake news” or “conspiracy” from people who don’t normally interact with your feed, these are likely people paid by Russians to troll you, or the accounts have been hacked or hijacked by malicious spamware. Block these accounts and report the posts to Facebook and Twitter.
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Reach out to your Republican friends. Remind them that this is not about party politics. This is about the U.S. Constitution, the sanctity of everyone’s vote, and the very freedoms we all cherish.
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Spread the word. Let you friends, family, and followers know what to do.
The war for your hearts and minds is being waged on social media, and things are about to heat up. There hasn’t been a time in history when your voice mattered so much.