The lights of Moscow

The Russian "troll factory" tried to cause tension in American society, including using the Pokemon Go game. It is reported by CNN.

"Russian efforts to intervene in American politics did not stop at Facebook and Twitter. The study of Russian accounts shows that they have reached YouTube, Tumblr and even Pokemon GO," the television channel notes.

According to CNN, the Donʼt Shoot US campaign was launched from Russian accounts ("Do not shoot at us"). She was supposed to look like a project of activists of the Black Lives Matter movement, protesting against the murders of police African Americans. A possible goal, notes the channel, to provoke the African -Americans to protests and at the same time convince the rest of the US citizens that the Black Lives Matter was coming a growing threat.

In particular, within the framework of the campaign of the Pokemon Go participants, they called on to look for Pokemon in places associated with the police exceeding their powers, and give the names of those who died in such incidents caught by Pokemon. The organizers of the competition for players who met these conditions promised gift cards to the Amazon online store. According to the TV channel, it is not known whether any of the Pokemon catchers received.

With the Donotshoot.us site registered on the fictional name, where the Pokemon GO players were held, more than 200 YouTube video recordings were also connected, related to the use of violence by police violence in African Americans. In addition, the service of Tumblr microblogs appeared publications related to this site, including about the competition for players in Pokemon Go.

According to the television channel, the Don`t Shoot US page was among the 470 accounts that the Facebook administration blocked as suspicious.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova ridiculed the message of the television channel. “Based on the logic of CNN, the African Americans are determined with their civic position, playing Pokemon,” Zakharova wrote . “This is how mediocre the channel explained the emergence of racial problems in modern America. The Russian ... and Pokemon controlled by them.”

On September 7, the Facebook administration said that when analyzing the advertising published on the social network for its possible connection with Russian interference in the American elections , about 3 thousand suspicious announcements were discovered, which were placed from about 470 sub -pages associated with another and allegedly managed from Russia. Since the Facebook policy does not allow the use of fake pages, they were removed.

On September 15, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Facebook administration sent the US special prosecutor to investigate the election to Robert Muller on the sale of advertising at request from Russia . The special prosecutor received copies of advertisements, the parameters of fictitious accounts, the owners of which purchased ads, as well as the criteria of customers to determine the target audience.

On September 22, Facebook Executive Director Mark Zuckerberg promised to make the placement of political advertising in his service more transparent .

On September 27, it became known that the US Senate Committee invited the top managers of Facebook, Twitter and Google to open hearings in Congress dedicated to Russian intervention in the elections. The meeting is scheduled for November 1.

On October 3, the Facebook administration transferred the Senate Intelligence Committee and the US House of Representatives a full report on the placement of political advertising on the social network, which could be of Russian origin. About 10 million users watched such an advertisement, said the Vice President of Facebook on Public Policy and Communications Elliot Schrage. "Most of the ads was focused on the social and political aspects of a wide ideological spectrum, from the topic of sexual minorities to racial and immigration issues, as well as on the right to own weapons," Srage said.