| Russian influence on the last election 18:35 - Apr 29 with 3604 views | Banosswan |
INSIGHT INVESTIGATION
Exposed: Russian Twitter bots tried to swing general election for Jeremy Corbyn
Robot accounts rooted for Labour and attacked Tories
Insight
April 29 2018, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
Jeremy Corbyn saw support for the Labour Party rise from 25% of the electorate to 40% over the course of last year’s election campaign
Jeremy Corbyn saw support for the Labour Party rise from 25% of the electorate to 40% over the course of last year’s election campaign
ORIGINAL PHOTO: GARETH FULLER
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The first evidence of Russian attempts to influence the result of the general election by promoting the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has emerged in a ground-breaking investigation into social media by this newspaper.
Our research, in conjunction with Swansea University, discovered that 6,500 Russian Twitter accounts rallied behind Labour in the weeks before last year’s election, helping supportive messages to reach millions of voters and denigrating its Conservative rivals.
Many of the Russian accounts can clearly be identified as internet robots – known as bots – that masqueraded under female English names but were in fact mass-produced to bombard the public with orchestrated political messages.
Academics say the fake accounts identified by this newspaper are just the tip of the iceberg and called on Twitter to investigate fully the true scale of Russian meddling in British politics.
Our investigation found overwhelming support for Corbyn and Labour from the Russian social media accounts with nine out of 10 messages about the party promoting its campaign. Conversely, nine out of 10 tweets about the Conservatives were hostile.
We found that 80% of the automated accounts had been created in the weeks before the vote on June 8 and swung into action at key points during the campaign. There was evidence that Russian social media accounts:
- Piled in with retweets praising Labour and deriding the Conservatives in equal measure on May 18 – the day Theresa May launched her party’s manifesto
- Retweeted publicity and support for Corbyn’s rallies around the country which became a phenomenon of the campaign, drawing unusually large crowds
- Helped Corbyn turn the Manchester Arena bombing into a campaigning point by amplifying tweets criticising May for cutting police numbers while she had been home secretary
- Retweeted attacks on May for her refusal to engage in television debates with Corbyn, while criticising the media for being too harsh on the Labour leader
- Brought their campaign to a climax on polling day – when the UK media is not allowed to report – with a series of messages urging Labour supporters to vote.
The election proved to be an extraordinary success personally for Corbyn, who saw his party’s support rise from 25% to 40% over the course of the campaign – the largest surge in support during a modern election.
Matt Hancock, the digital and culture secretary, called on Twitter to reveal the scale of the problem and act to prevent it from happening again. “These new revelations are extremely concerning,” he said. “It is absolutely unacceptable for any nation to attempt to interfere in the democratic elections of another country. The social media companies need to act to safeguard our democratic discourse and reveal what they know.”
Russia has already been accused of using such tactics to back Donald Trump in the 2016 American presidential election. This is the first time, however, that such Russian cyber-tactics have been documented in the 2017 UK general election, which saw Corbyn defy all predictions.
The Labour leader has faced repeated criticism for his reluctance to strongly condemn Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, over the Salisbury nerve agent attacks last month.
Our team of researchers found 16,000 Russian bots had been tweeting on British politics since April last year. We narrowed our study, however, to a sample of 20,000 tweets from Russia collected by Swansea University and posted in the four weeks before the general election so that we could assess each individual message’s political slant.
The academics from Swansea say the sample reflected only a fraction of social media content on the election and therefore believe the stark findings are evidence of an attempt to influence British politics on a grander scale.
Professor Oleksandr Talavera, the Swansea University economist who collected the data, said: “The samples provide evidence that Russian-language bots were used deliberately to try to influence the election in favour of Labour and against the Conservatives.
“The data represents just a small random sample and therefore the Russian-language automated bot behaviour we have observed is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg of their general election operation.”
Our researchers were able to establish that the messages were broadcast by thousands of automated bot accounts created in the months before the election.
Hundreds of the Twitter accounts were created simultaneously and displayed clear identifying factors. One of the most common was the use of 15-character alphanumeric user names with a false western woman’s name attached – even though they listed their first language as Russian.
At times, they tweeted the same messages in unison. Many were retweets from Labour Twitter accounts including Corbyn’s own and those of Labour-supporting unions and the grassroots campaign group Momentum in an apparent attempt to amplify the party’s message.
The bots were quick to leap to Corbyn’s defence when needed. When Corbyn was criticised in the campaign for failing to know the cost of one of his key policies, a gang of 34 accounts masquerading as women retweeted the same message simultaneously saying the media should respect the Labour leader.
Damian Collins, the Conservative MP who chairs the culture, media and sport select committee, said he would challenge Twitter on the findings as part of his committee’s inquiry into social media disinformation.
“Any Russian interference in the politics of the UK is a breach of our election law and something we’ve got to act to stop,” he said.
In response to our story, the Labour Party suggested that the Russian government had supported the Conservative Party during the election. A spokesman said: “Labour’s proposed crackdown on tax dodging, failed privatisation and corrupt oligarchs is opposed by both May and Putin’s conservative philosophy and their super-rich supporters.
“The Labour Party’s people-powered election campaign attracted huge levels of public support online. We were not aware of any from automated bots, categorically did not pay for any and are not aware of any of our supporters doing so.”
Twitter said its work to fight malicious bots “goes beyond any one specific election, event, or time period”. It had spent years working to identify and remove such accounts and was continuing the improvement of its internal systems “to detect and prevent new forms of spam and malicious automation”. |  |
| Ever since my son was... never conceived, because I've never had consensual sex without money involved... I've always kind of looked at you as... a thing, that I could live next to... in accordance with state laws. | | Poll: | How do you like your steak? |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 18:38 - Apr 29 with 1985 views | sherpajacob |
it was nothing to do with Theresa May's extraordinarily incompetent campaign then? |  |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 18:52 - Apr 29 with 1962 views | Kilkennyjack |
Anyone know who owns this newspaper and what (blue) political party they might support ?
Innit ... |  |
| Beware of the Risen People
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| Russian influence on the last election on 19:00 - Apr 29 with 1955 views | DwightYorkeSuperstar |
Oh this should be good. I can't wait for those who are adamant Trump won because of Russian Bots pipe up to try and dismiss this because it involves their cult leader Jeremy.
It has been a good start so far with one poster blaming the newspaper for favouring the Conservatives. |  |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 19:00 - Apr 29 with 1956 views | Private_Partz |
| Russian influence on the last election on 18:52 - Apr 29 by Kilkennyjack |
Anyone know who owns this newspaper and what (blue) political party they might support ?
Innit ... |
I feel another Corbyn slur coming on. He was a Russion spy not a Czech one...... |  |
| You have mission in life to hold out your hand,
To help the other guy out,
Help your fellow man.
Stan Ridgway
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| Russian influence on the last election on 19:02 - Apr 29 with 1952 views | PozuelosSideys |
Ahhh so it wasnt Diane Abbot organising Labours excellent social media streams then. It was Russians after all. Im gutted and shocked. |  |
| "Michu, Britton and Williams could have won 3-0 on their own. They wouldn't have required a keeper." | | Poll: | Hattricks |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 19:22 - Apr 29 with 1925 views | Humpty |
| Russian influence on the last election on 19:00 - Apr 29 by DwightYorkeSuperstar |
Oh this should be good. I can't wait for those who are adamant Trump won because of Russian Bots pipe up to try and dismiss this because it involves their cult leader Jeremy.
It has been a good start so far with one poster blaming the newspaper for favouring the Conservatives. |
Wouldn't surprise me at all if Russia tried to influence a British election.
The important thing is though Dwight, did any British political party welcome such interference and did they actually work with the Russians? |  | | |
| Russian influence on the last election on 19:39 - Apr 29 with 1904 views | oh_tommy_tommy |
I’d have never voted for labour until a Russian bot told me to ..
What the Facking hell is happening to this country ...ffs |  |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 19:40 - Apr 29 with 1903 views | Highjack |
They still bloody lost. These bloody Russians are useless mun. All this time and effort and all they’ve achieved is one dead cat and a couple of comatosed gerbils. |  |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 19:42 - Apr 29 with 1901 views | PozuelosSideys |
| Russian influence on the last election on 19:39 - Apr 29 by oh_tommy_tommy |
I’d have never voted for labour until a Russian bot told me to ..
What the Facking hell is happening to this country ...ffs |
And yet a significant number of people reckon the Russian bots coerced millions of Yanks to vote for Trump. Theres even investigations off the back of it.
So much information and misinformation around in modern times. Seems to be getting worse and worse. | |
| "Michu, Britton and Williams could have won 3-0 on their own. They wouldn't have required a keeper." | | Poll: | Hattricks |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 19:46 - Apr 29 with 1895 views | Humpty |
| Russian influence on the last election on 19:42 - Apr 29 by PozuelosSideys |
And yet a significant number of people reckon the Russian bots coerced millions of Yanks to vote for Trump. Theres even investigations off the back of it.
So much information and misinformation around in modern times. Seems to be getting worse and worse. |
No they don't. Nobody knows what effect it had on the election.
We know they tried though. The important issue is whether the Trump campaign worked with them. | | | |
| Russian influence on the last election on 19:56 - Apr 29 with 1888 views | PozuelosSideys |
| Russian influence on the last election on 19:46 - Apr 29 by Humpty |
No they don't. Nobody knows what effect it had on the election.
We know they tried though. The important issue is whether the Trump campaign worked with them. |
So the same sort of investigation into Jermey Corbyn and the Labour party should begin in the UK immediately then? | |
| "Michu, Britton and Williams could have won 3-0 on their own. They wouldn't have required a keeper." | | Poll: | Hattricks |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 19:57 - Apr 29 with 1886 views | oh_tommy_tommy |
| Russian influence on the last election on 19:42 - Apr 29 by PozuelosSideys |
And yet a significant number of people reckon the Russian bots coerced millions of Yanks to vote for Trump. Theres even investigations off the back of it.
So much information and misinformation around in modern times. Seems to be getting worse and worse. |
Indeed
You’d swear America never tried at all | |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 20:05 - Apr 29 with 1876 views | Humpty |
| Russian influence on the last election on 19:56 - Apr 29 by PozuelosSideys |
So the same sort of investigation into Jermey Corbyn and the Labour party should begin in the UK immediately then? |
If there's any evidence of them colluding with Russia in a criminal way, yes.
If not, no. | | | |
| Russian influence on the last election on 20:12 - Apr 29 with 1869 views | Banosswan |
| Russian influence on the last election on 20:05 - Apr 29 by Humpty |
If there's any evidence of them colluding with Russia in a criminal way, yes.
If not, no. |
Surely there'd need to be an investigation to find this evidence? | |
| Ever since my son was... never conceived, because I've never had consensual sex without money involved... I've always kind of looked at you as... a thing, that I could live next to... in accordance with state laws. | | Poll: | How do you like your steak? |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 20:15 - Apr 29 with 1861 views | Humpty |
| Russian influence on the last election on 20:12 - Apr 29 by Banosswan |
Surely there'd need to be an investigation to find this evidence? |
We don't go around investigating crimes if we have no evidence that a crime has been committed. | | | |
| Russian influence on the last election on 20:16 - Apr 29 with 1858 views | exiledclaseboy |
| Russian influence on the last election on 20:15 - Apr 29 by Humpty |
We don't go around investigating crimes if we have no evidence that a crime has been committed. |
If it even is a crime in the U.K.? |  |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 20:19 - Apr 29 with 1850 views | Humpty |
| Russian influence on the last election on 20:16 - Apr 29 by exiledclaseboy |
If it even is a crime in the U.K.? |
No idea. If they were aware of or complicit in a crime, such as illegally hacking someone, then I'd think so. [Post edited 29 Apr 2018 20:20]
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| Russian influence on the last election on 20:22 - Apr 29 with 1840 views | Kerouac |
| Russian influence on the last election on 20:12 - Apr 29 by Banosswan |
Surely there'd need to be an investigation to find this evidence? |
Odd isn't it, that all the Corbyn supporters on here were spewing out Russian propaganda on Salisbury recently?
Yes, an investigation is the way to go.
Funny that "it's the media !" is the stock excuse for anything reported that might embarrass the Labour Party these days
Perhaps the Tory scum have infiltrated Swansea University now (who are in collusion with the Murdoch empire)  |  |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 20:26 - Apr 29 with 1836 views | Humpty |
| Russian influence on the last election on 20:22 - Apr 29 by Kerouac |
Odd isn't it, that all the Corbyn supporters on here were spewing out Russian propaganda on Salisbury recently?
Yes, an investigation is the way to go.
Funny that "it's the media !" is the stock excuse for anything reported that might embarrass the Labour Party these days
Perhaps the Tory scum have infiltrated Swansea University now (who are in collusion with the Murdoch empire) |
You want an investigation into Labour because some people believe Russian bullshit?
BTW, plenty of people believe such bullshit, right across the political spectrum. | | | |
| Russian influence on the last election on 21:10 - Apr 29 with 1800 views | omarjack |
I thought I've seen few bots lurking around by my polling station...um, now that I thought about it, they smelled of pure Vodka and had a weird (deceptive) accent.. |  |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 21:35 - Apr 29 with 1773 views | Banosswan |
| Russian influence on the last election on 20:15 - Apr 29 by Humpty |
We don't go around investigating crimes if we have no evidence that a crime has been committed. |
Which is why people provide accusations. | |
| Ever since my son was... never conceived, because I've never had consensual sex without money involved... I've always kind of looked at you as... a thing, that I could live next to... in accordance with state laws. | | Poll: | How do you like your steak? |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 21:37 - Apr 29 with 1764 views | Humpty |
| Russian influence on the last election on 21:35 - Apr 29 by Banosswan |
Which is why people provide accusations. |
Not sure what you're getting at sorry. | | | |
| Russian influence on the last election on 21:38 - Apr 29 with 1763 views | Banosswan |
| Russian influence on the last election on 21:37 - Apr 29 by Humpty |
Not sure what you're getting at sorry. |
Explains a lot. | |
| Ever since my son was... never conceived, because I've never had consensual sex without money involved... I've always kind of looked at you as... a thing, that I could live next to... in accordance with state laws. | | Poll: | How do you like your steak? |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 21:42 - Apr 29 with 1756 views | oh_tommy_tommy |
| Russian influence on the last election on 20:22 - Apr 29 by Kerouac |
Odd isn't it, that all the Corbyn supporters on here were spewing out Russian propaganda on Salisbury recently?
Yes, an investigation is the way to go.
Funny that "it's the media !" is the stock excuse for anything reported that might embarrass the Labour Party these days
Perhaps the Tory scum have infiltrated Swansea University now (who are in collusion with the Murdoch empire) |
Russia have gone down in my estimation.
They cant kill a spy or rig elections any more. | |
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| Russian influence on the last election on 21:43 - Apr 29 with 1754 views | Humpty |
| Russian influence on the last election on 21:38 - Apr 29 by Banosswan |
Explains a lot. |
Could you explain your comment for me then please?
Then I may be able to answer it. | | | |
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