Troll farms reached 140 million Americans a month on Facebook before 2020 election, internal report shows

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/0 ... ket-newtab

In the run-up to the 2020 election, the most highly contested in US history, Facebook’s most popular pages for Christian and Black American content were being run by Eastern European troll farms. These pages were part of a larger network that collectively reached nearly half of all Americans, according to an internal company report, and achieved that reach not through user choice but primarily as a result of Facebook’s own platform design and engagement-hungry algorithm.
Related Story
How Facebook got addicted to spreading misinformation

The company’s AI algorithms gave it an insatiable habit for lies and hate speech. Now the man who built them can't fix the problem.

The report, written in October 2019 and obtained by MIT Technology Review from a former Facebook employee not involved in researching it, found that after the 2016 election, Facebook failed to prioritize fundamental changes to how its platform promotes and distributes information. The company instead pursued a whack-a-mole strategy that involved monitoring and quashing the activity of bad actors when they engaged in political discourse, and adding some guardrails that prevented “the worst of the worst.”

But this approach did little to stem the underlying problem, the report noted. Troll farms—professionalized groups that work in a coordinated fashion to post provocative content, often propaganda, to social networks—were still building massive audiences by running networks of Facebook pages. Their content was reaching 140 million US users per month—75% of whom had never followed any of the pages. They were seeing the content because Facebook’s content-recommendation system had pushed it into their news feeds.

“Instead of users choosing to receive content from these actors, it is our platform that is choosing to give [these troll farms] an enormous reach,” wrote the report’s author, Jeff Allen, a former senior-level data scientist at Facebook.
Sign up for The Download - Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology

Joe Osborne, a Facebook spokesperson, said in a statement that the company “had already been investigating these topics” at the time of Allen’s report, adding: “Since that time, we have stood up teams, developed new policies, and collaborated with industry peers to address these networks. We’ve taken aggressive enforcement actions against these kinds of foreign and domestic inauthentic groups and have shared the results publicly on a quarterly basis.”

In the process of fact-checking this story shortly before publication, MIT Technology Review found that five of the troll-farm pages mentioned in the report remained active.
This is the largest troll-farm page targeting African-Americans in October 2019. It still remains active on Facebook.

The report found that troll farms were reaching the same demographic groups singled out by the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency (IRA) during the 2016 election, which had targeted Christians, Black Americans, and Native Americans. A 2018 BuzzFeed News investigation found that at least one member of the Russian IRA, indicted for alleged interference in the 2016 US election, had also visited Macedonia around the emergence of its first troll farms, though it didn’t find concrete evidence of a connection. (Facebook said its investigations hadn’t turned up a connection between the IRA and Macedonian troll farms either.)

“This is not normal. This is not healthy,” Allen wrote. “We have empowered inauthentic actors to accumulate huge followings for largely unknown purposes ... The fact that actors with possible ties to the IRA have access to huge audience numbers in the same demographic groups targeted by the IRA poses an enormous risk to the US 2020 election.”

As long as troll farms found success in using these tactics, any other bad actor could too, he continued: “If the Troll Farms are reaching 30M US users with content targeted to African Americans, we should not at all be surprised if we discover the IRA also currently has large audiences there.”

Allen wrote the report as the fourth and final installment of a year-and-a-half-long effort to understand troll farms. He left the company that same month, in part because of frustration that leadership had “effectively ignored” his research, according to the former Facebook employee who supplied the report. Allen declined to comment.

The report reveals the alarming state of affairs in which Facebook leadership left the platform for years, despite repeated public promises to aggressively tackle foreign-based election interference. MIT Technology Review is making the full report available, with employee names redacted, because it is in the public interest.
Its revelations include:

As of October 2019, around 15,000 Facebook pages with a majority US audience were being run out of Kosovo and Macedonia, known bad actors during the 2016 election.
Collectively, those troll-farm pages—which the report treats as a single page for comparison purposes—reached 140 million US users monthly and 360 million global users weekly. Walmart’s page reached the second-largest US audience at 100 million.
The troll farm pages also combined to form:
the largest Christian American page on Facebook, 20 times larger than the next largest—reaching 75 million US users monthly, 95% of whom had never followed any of the pages.
the largest African-American page on Facebook, three times larger than the next largest—reaching 30 million US users monthly, 85% of whom had never followed any of the pages.
the second-largest Native American page on Facebook, reaching 400,000 users monthly, 90% of whom had never followed any of the pages.
the fifth-largest women’s page on Facebook, reaching 60 million US users monthly, 90% of whom had never followed any of the pages.
Troll farms primarily affect the US but also target the UK, Australia, India, and Central and South American countries.
Facebook has conducted multiple studies confirming that content more likely to receive user engagement (likes, comments, and shares) is more likely of a type known to be bad. Still, the company has continued to rank content in user’s newsfeeds according to what will receive the highest engagement.
Facebook forbids pages from posting content merely copied and pasted from other parts of the platform but does not enforce the policy against known bad actors. This makes it easy for foreign actors who do not speak the local language to post entirely copied content and still reach a massive audience. At one point, as many as 40% of page views on US pages went to those featuring primarily unoriginal content or material of limited originality.
Troll farms previously made their way into Facebook’s Instant Articles and Ad Breaks partnership programs, which are designed to help news organizations and other publishers monetize their articles and videos. At one point, thanks to a lack of basic quality checks, as many as 60% of Instant Article reads were going to content that had been plagiarized from elsewhere. This made it easy for troll farms to mix in unnoticed, and even receive payments from Facebook.

How Facebook enables troll farms and grows their audiences

The report looks specifically at troll farms based in Kosovo and Macedonia, which are run by people who don’t necessarily understand American politics. Yet because of the way Facebook’s newsfeed reward systems are designed, they can still have a significant impact on political discourse.
Related Story
She risked everything to expose Facebook. Now she’s telling her story.

Sophie Zhang, a former data scientist at Facebook, revealed that it enables global political manipulation and has done little to stop it.

In the report, Allen identifies three reasons why these pages are able to gain such large audiences. First, Facebook doesn’t penalize pages for posting completely unoriginal content. If something has previously gone viral, it will likely go viral again when posted a second time. This makes it really easy for anyone to build a massive following among Black Americans, for example. Bad actors can simply copy viral content from Black Americans’ pages, or even Reddit and Twitter, and paste it onto their own page—or sometimes dozens of pages.

Second, Facebook pushes engaging content on pages to people who don’t follow them. When users’ friends comment on or reshare posts on one of these pages, those users will see it in their newsfeeds too. The more a page’s content is commented on or shared, the more it travels beyond its followers. This means troll farms, whose strategy centers on reposting the most engaging content, have an outsize ability to reach new audiences.

Third, Facebook’s ranking system pushes more engaging content higher up in users’ newsfeeds. For the most part, the people who run troll farms have financial rather than political motives; they post whatever receives the most engagement, with little regard to the actual content. But because misinformation, clickbait, and politically divisive content is more likely to receive high engagement (as Facebook’s own internal analyses acknowledge), troll farms gravitate to posting more of it over time, the report says.

As a result, in October 2019, all 15 of the top pages targeting Christian Americans, 10 of the top 15 Facebook pages targeting Black Americans, and four of the top 12 Facebook pages targeting Native Americans were being run by troll farms.

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

Amplifying the most extreme among us. Then people accept these caricatures of the "other" and all you see is outage, hatred and frustration. And we end up in the circular conversations where people have no desire to hear each other. In fact it reaches a point where giving your enemy even the most basic of human kindness is unacceptable. Our own self-centered ignorance creates the perfect boogie man. I'm not sure there is anyway out if this now.

[Slip Shod]

@ G. Crzy W --
Doesn't surprise me at all. And though you have the documentation in hand..
THAT , will do little or nothing to the true believers of Facebook.
The good news, Gospel According to Facebook - a place where we can get our news and stroked (affirmation)

[Mike]

So we can presume that Marjorie Greene is controlled by a troll farm?

[Slip Shod]

So we can presume that Marjorie Greene is controlled by a troll farm?

Among the several talents that you have, we'll have to include cherry picker.

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

Doesn't surprise me at all. And though you have the documentation in hand..
THAT , will do little or nothing to the true believers of Facebook.
The good news, Gospel According to Facebook - a place where we can get our news and stroked (affirmation)

It's pretty amazing how quickly Facebook has become a definitive force for information. Especially when it's so well established that the information is terrible.

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

Among the several talents that you have, we'll have to include cherry picker.

Not even cherry picking. Cherry picking would be if he took part of my argument and used it against me ignoring the rest. That isn't what he did here. He brought up something that had absolutely nothing to do with what I said at all. That's a Strawman Argument. I'm all for calling Mike out on his fallacious thinking, but if we are going to do that we had better be right.

[Slip Shod]

@ guide
I hold no ill-will towards Mike at all and in fact in some twisted way I kind of like him. So okay, it's all out in the open, I'm screwed up too. As long as his kind, communist Marxist, aren't in power they're relatively harmless .

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

@ guide
I hold no ill-will towards Mike at all and in fact in some twisted way I kind of like him. So okay, it's all out in the open, I'm screwed up too. As long as his kind, communist Marxist, aren't in power they're relatively harmless .

I don't hold any ill-will toward him. I do think he's a pathological narcissist. Mostly I'd prefer not to have to deal with him. But my roll on this site makes that impossible.

Mikes not a Marxist. He just uses Marxist rhetoric to try and validate his progressive ideas. I don't think he realize nor cares about the history of the rhetoric. All that matters to him is winning in his own mind.

[Mike]

So we can presume that Marjorie Greene is controlled by a troll farm?

Among the several talents that you have, we'll have to include cherry picker.

So then Newsmax is controlled by Eastern European trolls?



How about Mike Lindell? Controlled by trolls?



How about Fox (bonus Newsmax)??



Donald Trump?



Gregg Abbott?




I could go on… and on and on and on….. that’s quite the opposite of cherry-picking.

[Slip Shod]

I could go on a rampage listing dozens of accounts Facebook has shut down; squelching alternative views other than their own attempting to define and dump on us all just what in their sight is politically correct and their view of moral high ground - to which millions of Americans have said screw you Facebook ( now and forever )

[Slip Shod]

@ guide
I hold no ill-will towards Mike at all and in fact in some twisted way I kind of like him. So okay, it's all out in the open, I'm screwed up too. As long as his kind, communist Marxist, aren't in power they're relatively harmless .

I don't hold any ill-will toward him. I do think he's a pathological narcissist. Mostly I'd prefer not to have to deal with him. But my roll on this site makes that impossible.

Mikes not a Marxist. He just uses Marxist rhetoric to try and validate his progressive ideas. I don't think he realize nor cares about the history of the rhetoric. All that matters to him is winning in his own mind.

I understand narcissists; I have a brother loves the spotlight center stage. And on many levels we get along great although I'm probably the total opposite of him in many ways. He can be condescending towards me, but I know where he's coming from and it doesn't bother me. Hanging with him is like being in a small boat out in the lake. It's all good I just roll with it

[Mike]

Among the several talents that you have, we'll have to include cherry picker.

Not even cherry picking. Cherry picking would be if he took part of my argument and used it against me ignoring the rest. That isn't what he did here. He brought up something that had absolutely nothing to do with what I said at all. That's a Strawman Argument. I'm all for calling Mike out on his fallacious thinking, but if we are going to do that we had better be right.

No, it’s got everything to do with your statement. Somehow, you can’t ever accept when I challenge what you say.
What you said was Then people accept these caricatures of the "other" and all you see is outage, hatred and frustration.

My post was designed to illustrate that, at least on one side, the caricatures are not some nonexistent thing manufactured and amplified by Eastern Europeans. The caricatures are what the people in question present to us themselves, as themselves. Showing themselves to the world exactly as they wish to be seen. Do you see how that DIRECTLY ADDRESSES YOUR STATEMENT?? Of course you don’t - cue the point at which you accuse me of being ‘childish’ and say you won’t address me because of it. ;FACEPALM:

As for slipshod, you just painted yourself as a caricature. You see, it is exactly that “communist Marxist” accusation crap that the caricatures all deploy, in an attempt to stifle actual conversation on policy.

Shall I post Pat Robertson? Lauren Bobert? Mitch McConnell? Laura Ingraham? OAN? How about that maniacal preacher who claimed trump didn’t lose the election? How about Madison cawthorn? How about the trump kids, who shoot elephants to prove they are real men? How about Wayne lapierre, foaming-at-the-mouth head of NRA? Or speaking of Wayne, how about the captain of the sheriff’s dept who was busy hawking ivermectin at Wayne Weed & Feed even as he died of covid? Or the GQP loudmouths who are accusing a hospital of murder for failing to use ivermectin on (yet another) GQP anti-vaxx loudmouth who died of covid in that hospital? Or the other dozen prominent anti-mask anti-vaxx Repubs who recently died of covid? Or the Mississippi governor who, when presented on-air with the data that his state would, if a nation, have the second highest percapita covid death rate in the world right now, deflected the question rather than address his own failings?

No…. It’s abundantly clear that there’s no need for “Facebook troll farms” to make caricatures out of virtually all the public voices of one of our two major political parties. Those who insist on blaming someone outside this nation for this are misdirecting. In which case, a reasonable person has to question their motivation. It’s also, based on what we see, abundantly clear which side IS susceptible to manipulation by bad actors. Hint: it’s not the side seeking to get Americans to protect themselves and each other from this virus.

Cherry-picking? What a fucking moronic accusation. No surprise there.

[Slip Shod]

@ mike ..
The reason I said communist, Marxist is because of a post I had on Zangie's Zany Zoo. You went and got your panties all bunched up over my post about Karl Marx's birthday. Remember? or maybe not

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

Hanging with him is like being in a small boat out in the lake. It's all good I just roll with it

Sometimes if you want to have a relationship with someone you have to do it on their terms. It's just a matter of if you can accept those terms or not.

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

No, it’s got everything to do with your statement. Somehow, you can’t ever accept when I challenge what you say.

No I can't accept when you read your own bias into what I saw and challenge that. I don't think you have the desire or the ability to understand that.

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

@Mike

I'm going to break this down for you it should be fun. I post a well documented study about Eastern European troll farms and how they amplify the most extreme voices in our society. I then opined how many people take this visions from facebook as proof that everyone who disagrees with them is the dangerous extrem.

You're repose?

So we can presume that Marjorie Greene is controlled by a troll farm?

I didn't say anything about Greene. Nor did I say anyone was "controlled" by troll farms. What I said was Troll Farms amplify the voice of the extreme. So you go back and post over and over again those same posts. It has nothing to do with what I said at all. The term amplification implies that there are other people who are initiating the comments. Yet you want to prove that there are other people initiating the comment and you think you somehow "Somehow, you can’t ever accept when I challenge what you say." You aren't challenging anything you are just being an asshole.

That is part of what I take issue with. The rest is your rude, combative and condescending approach to the conversation.

[Slip Shod]

You got to love this guy
~

th.jpeg (20.61 KiB) Viewed 16583 times

[Mike]

You fail to acknowledge that you ALSO posted an opinion after you posted the study! I did not respond to the study… I responded to your specific statement about caricatures, and your followup that way implied that all the caricatures are coming from the Eastern Bloc and that we poor naive Americans are somehow victims and yadayada. So I pointed out that the caricatures are bought into mostly by one side, which also has a tendency to present itself as caricature.

And here you are, trying to weasel out of it. Again. As seemingly always. Again, what is your motivation? Is it the same motivation that found you, for years, denying the impact of systemic racism? Or perhaps the same motivation that finds you strongly implying the Cali recall was bipartisan and valid, even though it resulted in an even higher approval of Newsom (64%) than he got in being elected (61%)? I do remember you expressing joy in casting your vote against him and his ‘failed’ government….

Your study link is duly noted. But like john Stossel, you find ways to use things like this to imply stuff that just ain’t true.

@Mike

I'm going to break this down for you it should be fun. I post a well documented study about Eastern European troll farms and how they amplify the most extreme voices in our society. I then opined how many people take this visions from facebook as proof that everyone who disagrees with them is the dangerous extrem.

You're repose?

So we can presume that Marjorie Greene is controlled by a troll farm?

I didn't say anything about Greene. Nor did I say anyone was "controlled" by troll farms. What I said was Troll Farms amplify the voice of the extreme. So you go back and post over and over again those same posts. It has nothing to do with what I said at all. The term amplification implies that there are other people who are initiating the comments. Yet you want to prove that there are other people initiating the comment and you think you somehow "Somehow, you can’t ever accept when I challenge what you say." You aren't challenging anything you are just being an asshole.

That is part of what I take issue with. The rest is your rude, combative and condescending approach to the conversation.

[Slip Shod]

Where does a Marxist go when he dies? Heaven? Hell ?
No, for them there is no Heaven or Hell so I guess it's the compost pile

[Mike]

Where does a Marxist go when he dies? Heaven? Hell ?
No, for them there is no Heaven or Hell so I guess it's the compost pile

[Mike]

Who needs Eastern European troll farms to make stupid Americans even stupider when we have Breitbart to do the job?

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment ... ters-dead/

This moron is claiming that efforts to convince the general public to get vaccinated are a concerted plot by leftists to kill off trump voters.
And Breitbart actually published it.

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

This moron is claiming that efforts to convince the general public to get vaccinated are a concerted plot by leftists to kill off trump voters.

If someone was trying to kill trump voter's I'd think they would start poising fast food and and Mountain Dew

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

You fail to acknowledge that you ALSO posted an opinion after you posted the study! I did not respond to the study… I responded to your specific statement about caricatures, and your followup that way implied that all the caricatures are coming from the Eastern Bloc and that we poor naive Americans are somehow victims and yadayada. So I pointed out that the caricatures are bought into mostly by one side, which also has a tendency to present itself as caricature.

I was also talking about my post, where I intentionally used the word amply to describe the work of the troll farms. I didn't imply any thing, you simply made assumptions based on your bias and ran with it. Yes, the amplification of those voices makes the seem more prominent then they otherwise would be. That has a direct effect on people assume anyone who disagrees with them is a caricature. I then go on to say, "Our own self-centered ignorance creates the perfect boogie man. I'm not sure there is anyway out if this now." again pointing the finger at our society. If you stopped responding to what you think I might mean and started responding to what I say we could have a conversation. You are literally falling into that trap in this very conversation. You decided I was implying something I as not, based only on your beliefs about "conservative" boogieman. You completely ignored what I said and my point. Which is about 80% of your responses. The other 20% is some variation of "Racism!!!! AHHHHHHH!"

For some reason you refuse to deal with any responsible position you disagree with. Instead you regress it to some adsorb straw man.

[Mike]

“I’m not sure there is any way out of this now”, combined with “amplifying the most extreme among us”, absolves us of responsibility. Doesn’t it. Which you very much seek to do on a regular basis. We are not responsible for systemic racism, right? My people didn’t come over until 1900 so it’s not my fault therefore not my problem. Right? Policies should be about moral principles and the results are not my problem. right? Abbott is laissez faire, even though he is deliberately crafting policies that are guaranteed to get more people sick and dead while preventing folks from doing anything about it. Right?

No…. The responsibility is ours. It’s not the fault of the Eastern hordes, though Josef Goebbels might have enjoyed the implication that it is. I do find it amusing to watch you two musketeers refrain that I’m a narcissist, when one of the hallmarks of narcissism is avoidance of responsibility.