Time: Russian trolls changed their tactics in the US on the eve of the 2020 election of the year

Russian Internet trolls seem to change strategy in their attempts to influence the US presidential election in 2020. According to cybersecurity experts, now the trolls have focused on warming up political differences through fake social media accounts instead of creating propaganda themselves and thus causing controversy.

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The Kremlin-related Internet research agency is among those trying to circumvent the protection measures introduced by Facebook, Twitter and other social networks to search and remove fake content created by hackers to sow split among the American electorate during the 2016 presidential campaign of the year, writes Time.

“Instead of creating content themselves, we see them amplifying and promoting existing content. In this case, they are not necessarily spreading false information, but this approach gives them the opportunity to hide behind someone else,” said John Hultquist, director of analytics at FireEye Inc.

In addition, hackers hack computer devices and use the data to open a large number of accounts in social networks. According to Candid Wuest, a senior threat researcher at Symantec Corp., the data obtained from the hacked devices are used to create users of social networks with real names, which allows “trolls” to comment and put likes on social media pages that are very difficult to distinguish from accounts of real people.

Despite the fact that the fake increase in the popularity of divisive and conflicting content created by others is not a new tactic for hackers, experts note that its use has grown noticeably in the run-up to the next presidential election in the US on the outcome of the vote.

Wuest said that he observed a reduction in the creation of new content with fake accounts during 2017-2018 and the transition to actively creating fake accounts and building up their subscribers in order to use these platforms in 2020 to stir up conflicts in American society.

FBI concern

FBI Director Christopher Ray, speaking at 5 in March at the RSA conference in San Francisco, said that social networks remain the primary means of influence for foreign players in US elections, and the bureau is working with social networks to find a solution to this problem.

“What almost never abates and intensifies during election cycles is the malicious foreign influence campaign, especially through the use of social media. This continues and we are preparing for it to continue and only increase as we move into 2020,” Ray said.

However, the elimination of foreign influence campaigns is an extremely difficult task for social networks.

Nathaniel Gleicher, head of cybersecurity policy on Facebook, said it’s difficult to maintain a balance when conducting operations to identify and eliminate trolls.

Social media, he said, must “find ways to impose more controls on abusers and the tactics they use without simultaneously creating barriers to meaningful public debate on social media.”

Recall, the investigating authorities of the United States believe that Russian trolls tried to influence the US presidential election in 2016. However, according to experts, their actions did not lead to changes in voting results.

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