How Russia Harvested American Rage to Reshape U.S. Politics - The New York Times

On related notes, see Google Finds Accounts Connected to Russia Bought Election Ads, Microsoft is reviewing its records for signs of potential Russian meddling during the 2016 election (Recode), and Pierre Omidyar: 6 ways social media has become a direct threat to democracy (Washington Post)

"A New York Times examination of hundreds of those posts shows that one of the most powerful weapons that Russian agents used to reshape American politics was the anger, passion and misinformation that real Americans were broadcasting across social media platforms.

The Russian pages — with names like “Being Patriotic,” “Secured Borders” and “Blacktivist” — cribbed complaints about federal agents from one conservative website, and a gauzy article about a veteran who became an entrepreneur from People magazine. They took descriptions and videos of police beatings from genuine YouTube and Facebook accounts and reposted them, sometimes lightly edited for maximum effect."

How Russia Harvested American Rage to Reshape U.S. Politics - The New York Times