| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' 11:15 - Jun 10 with 11465 views | Shaky |
Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links'
BBC, 10 June 2018
The founder of Leave.EU, Arron Banks, has confirmed he will appear before MPs this week to answer new allegations about his links with Russia.
It has been reported that Mr Banks, who bankrolled the unofficial leave campaign, had more contact with Russian officials than he previously admitted.
The allegations come as MPs investigate accusations Russia attempted to influence the EU referendum.
Mr Banks has suggested he is the victim of "a political witch-hunt".'Boozy lunches'
Since Britain voted to leave the EU in June 2016, questions have been raised about Leave.EU campaign and its chief backer Mr Banks, as well as the possible influence of Russia on the referendum result.
The Sunday Times reports Mr Banks had three meetings with the Russian ambassador to the UK. In his book, The Bad Boys of Brexit, Mr Banks had previously admitted to only one.
The millionaire Brexit backer told the paper: "I had two boozy lunches with the Russian ambassador and another cup of tea with him. Bite me.
Full story -- for now: https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-politics-44428115? |  |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 12:56 - Jun 10 with 1991 views | oh_tommy_tommy |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 12:32 - Jun 10 by BarrySwan |
So lets get this straight.
Bloke running his own unofficial campaign meets some Russians.
AND? |
Played some tennis with them for a small fee .
If something’s going tits up like Brexit
Blame Russia
Or Corbyn |  |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 12:57 - Jun 10 with 1991 views | bluey_the_blue |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 12:33 - Jun 10 by Humpty |
And lied about it. |
To quote the guy you replied to, AND?
Banks was bitter his little group wasn't selected as the official Leave campaign group, attacking them often. Hardly smacks of influencing the referendum.
I'd not be surprised to see him overestimating his own importance. |  | | |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 13:13 - Jun 10 with 1966 views | Humpty |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 12:55 - Jun 10 by bluey_the_blue |
Not really desperate more pointing out she's not exactly knowing for outstanding research, more looking for headlines which get her name out there.
Aaron Banks? Bit of a w@nker tbh, just need to look at his record Only thing I agree with him on is the conduct of the Electoral Commission, who seem unwilling to investigate allegations of collusion between the Remain groups.
I'd personally say the "ZOMG RUSSIA MADE PEOPLE VOTE LEAVE" is bollocks. If Banks had the influence, you'd figure he'd have had more than three meetings... |
I don't think anyone is suggesting Russia made people vote leave Bluey. I certainly haven't. Strawman. Something Trump likes to play as well.
Just wondering why people aren't being honest about their meetings with Russian official. |  | | |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 13:15 - Jun 10 with 1963 views | Humpty |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 12:57 - Jun 10 by bluey_the_blue |
To quote the guy you replied to, AND?
Banks was bitter his little group wasn't selected as the official Leave campaign group, attacking them often. Hardly smacks of influencing the referendum.
I'd not be surprised to see him overestimating his own importance. |
You've lost me there. I fail to see how Banks lying about meetings with Russians is him overestimating his own importance. [Post edited 10 Jun 2018 13:27]
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 14:32 - Jun 10 with 1917 views | BarrySwan |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 12:33 - Jun 10 by Humpty |
And lied about it. |
And lied about what?
Meeting Russians? Which presumably he, you or I, are perfectly at liberty to do so as often as we wish.
Who cares? Except a handful of whining, moaning bunch of naysayers narked that not only they were /are too dull to guage public opinion and who are now running about whimpering to all and sundry after finding out that they are in the miniority of voters in this country.
Tough Luck! | | | |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 14:44 - Jun 10 with 1903 views | BarrySwan |
Uh Oh!
Just noticed Banks is married to a Russian, this just gets worse and worse.
Presumably the headline can be changed to...
'Aaron Banks meets Russian thousands of times!'
Or
'Banks slept with Russian woman!' | | | |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 14:49 - Jun 10 with 1895 views | the_oracle |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 11:27 - Jun 10 by pikeypaul |
Well done Putin you certainly made 17.4million do the correct thing.
Now if only the remoaners would accept democracy and stop behaving like little loser babies. |
So you are happy the vote was influenced by Putin, yet tell remoaners to accept democracy? ok | | | |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 14:55 - Jun 10 with 1889 views | Highjack |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 14:44 - Jun 10 by BarrySwan |
Uh Oh!
Just noticed Banks is married to a Russian, this just gets worse and worse.
Presumably the headline can be changed to...
'Aaron Banks meets Russian thousands of times!'
Or
'Banks slept with Russian woman!' |
This is obviously collusion of the most dangerous variety. Has anybody informed MI6 about this? |  |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 16:03 - Jun 10 with 1864 views | Badlands |
Always good to see so many people happy to let foreign powers destroy democracy. |  |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 16:11 - Jun 10 with 1857 views | bluey_the_blue |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 13:13 - Jun 10 by Humpty |
I don't think anyone is suggesting Russia made people vote leave Bluey. I certainly haven't. Strawman. Something Trump likes to play as well.
Just wondering why people aren't being honest about their meetings with Russian official. |
Well, if Russia had zero influence in some people's minds then the whole thing is an utter irrelevance, isn't it?
How many Russian officials have you met? How do we know you're telling the truth? Does it even matter? | | | |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 16:12 - Jun 10 with 1855 views | bluey_the_blue |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 16:03 - Jun 10 by Badlands |
Always good to see so many people happy to let foreign powers destroy democracy. |
And the evidence foreign powers have destroyed democracy is where exactly? | | | |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 17:46 - Jun 10 with 1820 views | Shaky |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 16:12 - Jun 10 by bluey_the_blue |
And the evidence foreign powers have destroyed democracy is where exactly? |
Signs of Russian Meddling in Brexit Referendum
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
NYT, NOVEMBER 15, 2017
LONDON – More than 150,000 Russian-language Twitter accounts posted tens of thousands of messages in English urging Britain to leave the European Union in the days before last year’s referendum on the issue, a team of researchers disclosed on Wednesday.
More than 400 of the accounts that Twitter has already identified to congressional investigators as tools of the Kremlin, other researchers said, also posted divisive messages about Britain’s decision on withdrawing from the bloc, or Brexit, both before and after the vote.
Most of the messages sought to inflame fears about Muslims and immigrants to help drive the vote, suggesting parallels to the strategy that Russian propagandists employed in the United States in the 2016 election to try to intensify the polarization of the electorate.
The separate findings amount to the strongest evidence yet of a Russian attempt to use social media to manipulate British politics in the same way the Kremlin has done in the United States, France and elsewhere.
The disclosures came just two days after Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain delivered a speech accusing Russia of using cyberattacks and online propaganda to “undermine free societies” and “sow discord in the West.”
On Tuesday, the chief of the National Cyber Security Center released a summary of a prepared speech asserting that in the past 12 months, Russian hackers had unleashed cyberattacks on the British energy grid and the telecommunications and media industries.
Taken together, the flurry of reports and accusations adds to growing pressure on Twitter, Facebook and other social media companies to disclose more of their internal records about advertising payments and account registrations, information essential to illuminating the extent of Russian meddling in the referendum on Brexit.
Any evidence that Moscow did, however, may also complicate the already vexed politics surrounding the issue.
Social media companies disclosed Russia’s role in the American election only after prodding by Congress. Facebook, for example, disclosed this year that, over 32 months, the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency had paid more than $100,000 for online advertising, posted 80,000 pieces of divisive content and reached more than 126 million Americans.
The Kremlin has long sought to weaken or divide the European Union, perceiving it as a rival for influence in countries from the former Soviet bloc. And Russia’s main propaganda outlets like Sputnik and Russia Today pushed hard for Brexit.
But the British government, consumed by the negotiations for an exit from the European Union, has not yet obtained similar disclosures. Although a parliamentary committee recently asked the social media companies for information, many critics have argued that the government has little appetite for an inquiry that could muddy its mandate.
The social media companies, including Facebook, Twitter and Google, have had little incentive to volunteer information about the exploitation of their own platforms. And the predominantly right-wing, pro-Brexit British press, particularly the powerful tabloids, have little enthusiasm for undermining the validity of the referendum.
That dynamic may now be changing. The Times of London reported on Wednesday that a team of researchers working on an unrelated and still-unpublished study had identified 156,252 Twitter accounts that listed Russian as their language but posted messages in English to argue against the European Union.
The researchers, Oleksandr Talavera and Tho Pham, of Swansea University in Wales, said in interviews on Wednesday that the Russian accounts, which had posted very little about Brexit in the month before the referendum, became quite active at the last minute: from about 1,000 a day two weeks before the vote to 45,000 in the last 48 hours and 39,000 on the day the results were announced, June 24, 2016.
“It is very strange that someone whose language is Russian tweets in English,” Ms. Pham said – describing it as an anomaly that had prompted the researchers to look more closely at 10 of the most active accounts under suspicion.
Nine had been deleted, and the last, Sveta1972, appeared to emanate from a Russian resort town. On the eve of the referendum, Sveta1972 urged Britain to “make June the 23rd our Independence Day.”
Related findings by a separate team of researchers were reported this week by The Guardian, a strong opponent of Brexit. Those researchers had collected a sample of more than 60 million Twitter posts using hashtags related to Brexit.
They found that 419 of the 2,752 accounts already identified by Twitter to congressional committees as being linked to the Kremlin had posted 3,500 times using Brexit hashtags.
More than 70 percent of those posts were after the vote, but 38 of the accounts tweeted a total of 400 times on the day of the vote, said Laura Cram, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, who conducted the study with her colleague, Clare Llewellyn.
Researchers study Twitter for indications of broader patterns in social media, because information about its users and contents is more accessible than in the larger but less-open platforms like Facebook. But without the disclosure of more information from the companies, social scientists said, neither of the findings disclosed this week will provide conclusive evidence of a deliberate Kremlin campaign to influence the Brexit vote or other British elections.
Ms. Cram, for example, noted that Russian propagandists might have used hashtags related to Brexit only because they fit with protectionist, nativist or anti-Muslim themes that resonated in the context of the American election, as well.
“These accounts were definitely using Brexit hashtags,” she said, “but we cannot say whether they were primarily trying to influence Brexit or whether it was a side effect of them trying to wreak discord generally.”
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has denied trying to influence the Brexit vote. But concerns about Russia’s use of social media to meddle in elections have become so commonplace that the Spanish government recently accused Russians of playing a significant role in the push for Catalan independence.
A third, smaller survey, reported last week by Wired magazine, found that 29 of the Russian-linked Twitter accounts identified to Congress had also tweeted 139 times about Britain or Europe. Blaming terrorist attacks on Islam or railing against immigrants were favorite themes, said Jonathon Morgan, chief executive of New Knowledge, a digital security firm based in Austin, Tex., that conducted the survey.
“Many of these accounts strongly pushed the narrative that all Muslims should be equated with terrorists and made the case that Muslims should be banned from Europe,” he said. “That is very consistent with the Russian strategy on U.S. issues, and the fact that they were using the same tactics to target Europeans is extremely telling.” | |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 17:49 - Jun 10 with 1818 views | Shaky |
Of course upstanding intellectuals like Pike, Jango, Peenemunde, and yourself, wont be susceptible to racist dog whistles and Russian trolling.
No siree, Bobski. | |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 18:00 - Jun 10 with 1808 views | Shaky |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 17:49 - Jun 10 by Shaky |
Of course upstanding intellectuals like Pike, Jango, Peenemunde, and yourself, wont be susceptible to racist dog whistles and Russian trolling.
No siree, Bobski. |
. . .Except for Peenemunde obviously who's already said he likes and trusts the Russians.
Fcuking love 'em, don't you Penne?
And a bit of Nazi mythology as well. Lovely jubbly. | |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 19:16 - Jun 10 with 1790 views | Highjack |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 18:00 - Jun 10 by Shaky |
. . .Except for Peenemunde obviously who's already said he likes and trusts the Russians.
Fcuking love 'em, don't you Penne?
And a bit of Nazi mythology as well. Lovely jubbly. |
Are you actually mad? | |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 19:18 - Jun 10 with 1789 views | peenemunde |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 14:49 - Jun 10 by the_oracle |
So you are happy the vote was influenced by Putin, yet tell remoaners to accept democracy? ok |
How did putin influence voters ? Did he actually say anything regarding Brexit ?.
Yet we had the president of the USA at the time, blatantly tell lies in favour of the remoaner camp. |  | | |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 19:25 - Jun 10 with 1779 views | peenemunde |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 18:00 - Jun 10 by Shaky |
. . .Except for Peenemunde obviously who's already said he likes and trusts the Russians.
Fcuking love 'em, don't you Penne?
And a bit of Nazi mythology as well. Lovely jubbly. |
I certainly would trust Putin more than the rabble in Westminster, without a shadow of doubt.
Putin, puts Russia above all else, Something the fifth columnists in this country could learn from. [Post edited 10 Jun 2018 19:32]
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 19:30 - Jun 10 with 1776 views | peenemunde |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 19:16 - Jun 10 by Highjack |
Are you actually mad? |
He must be.
During one of his long winded postings, he mentions something about Russia being responsible for sending 150,000 tweets, in favour of Brexit, but fails to also mention the British government, sending a pro remain leaflet to every household in the U.K.. | | | |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 19:37 - Jun 10 with 1768 views | Shaky |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 19:16 - Jun 10 by Highjack |
Are you actually mad? |
Are you fcuking stupid?
Yes! | |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 19:58 - Jun 10 with 1759 views | sherpajacob |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 11:20 - Jun 10 by Jango |
I voted leave but I probably wouldn’t have if Russia didn’t twist my arm. |
Why not list the reasons you voted leave, then we can judge if you've been misled? |  |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 20:40 - Jun 10 with 1745 views | bluey_the_blue |
@Shaky
So the alleged number of tweets clearly caused people to change their mind; ok, ignore the fact people have been leaving twitter anyway,.
The leaflets printed and put through everybodies door urging a Remain vote clearly didn't influence anyway. No sirree to steal a phrase.
Remoaners seem to believe anyone not thinking the EU is the greatest invention ever must clearly be sheep; unlike themselves, obviously. | | | |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 20:43 - Jun 10 with 1741 views | Highjack |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 19:58 - Jun 10 by sherpajacob |
Why not list the reasons you voted leave, then we can judge if you've been misled? |
1. The EU is not only undemocratic. It is anti-democratic. | |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 07:31 - Jun 11 with 1669 views | trampie |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 20:43 - Jun 10 by Highjack |
1. The EU is not only undemocratic. It is anti-democratic. |
On the other hand we have the unelected house of Lords and the unelected Monarchy and a state religion, as well as anti abortion and anti same sex marriage rules in place over here either covering every part of the state or some parts. |  |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 07:57 - Jun 11 with 1659 views | felixstowe_jack |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 20:43 - Jun 10 by Highjack |
1. The EU is not only undemocratic. It is anti-democratic. |
Any may of the Lords are actually paid by the EU Lords Kinnock and Many to name but two. Plus all Lords with huge land holders get EU Farming subsidies. | |
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| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 09:59 - Jun 11 with 1632 views | Shaky |
| Leave.EU 'downplayed Russian links' on 20:40 - Jun 10 by bluey_the_blue |
@Shaky
So the alleged number of tweets clearly caused people to change their mind; ok, ignore the fact people have been leaving twitter anyway,.
The leaflets printed and put through everybodies door urging a Remain vote clearly didn't influence anyway. No sirree to steal a phrase.
Remoaners seem to believe anyone not thinking the EU is the greatest invention ever must clearly be sheep; unlike themselves, obviously. |
Elections are decided at the margin, and although relative to other developed countries the UK Brexit turnout was poor, it was actually fairly decent relative to past national elections.
Did you read the leaflet? i certainly didn't, or even open it.
Do you know anything about advertising? Why impressions matter and why viral campaigns work? Or are you one of those mugs who thinks advertising doesn't work on them?
I have no doubt that 150,000 Russian twitter accounts bashing out and amplifying hate and the clear messages that a little bit of racism is ok, was more significantly important at the margin.
That's why Russian military intelligence literally has battalions of internet trolls on the job. | |
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