Things We Saw Today: A Fake “Antifa” Twitter Account Forgot to Disable Its Russian Geotag

Russia’s Internet propaganda war on the U.S. is continuing apace.

It’s well-known that Russia employs entire troll farms that exist to sow dissent and exploit cultural faultlines online—they’ve used these tactics internally, as well as in countries in Europe and in America. While most Americans have by now at least heard of Russian meddling with actual fake news stories and ads in the last Presidential election, many don’t know that there are active armies of Twitter trolls and bots alongside similar accounts on sites like Facebook and Reddit.

As you can see in the Tweet from the now-disabled “Boston Antifa” account (I guess “Vladivostok paid troll” was taken), the poster seems to be trying to further roil NFL fans by implying the ascendance of “social justice” culture in football. God forbid that there be “gender inclusivity” in the NFL and the availability of hoity-toity “gluten free” food options. Everyone with celiac disease should suffer! Dietary restrictions and choices are for loser elites! Also, creeping inclusivity apparently means that soon all football fans will be required to have multi-colored hair and take bathroom selfies. Talk about a shit post.

It’s worth reading the commentary on Reddit, where many commenters break down the exact Russian tactics at play here. Don’t forget that every time you see a social media post grossly trying to break Americans apart, there’s a very good chance it’s not coming from anywhere near America. And tell your uncle who reposts this kind of stuff on Facebook, too.

• Michelle Williams is in talks to join the upcoming Venom movie, with Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed already attached. I really hadn’t cared much about this movie but the cast is shaping up to be pretty stellar. (via The Wrap)
• The Russo brothers are adapting the comic “Deadly Class” as a Syfy pilot. (via The Hollywood Reporter)
• Listen to Andra Day cover the iconic protest song “Strange Fruit.” (via The Equal Justice Initiative)
• Attack the Block director Jon Cornish is directing a modern day King Arthur movie and Patrick Stewart is playing Merlin and that’s all I need to know give me a ticket now. (via Nerdist)
• For some reason Spider-Man: Homecoming deleted this scene, which namechecked Miles Morales. (via Syfy)
• Days after Hillary Clinton tweeted about it, the Navy hospital ship Comfort is being deployed to Puerto Rico, but it will still take many days to get there. (via The Washington Post)

That’s it from us, what’d you see today?

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Kaila Hale-Stern

Kaila Hale-Stern (she/her) is a content director, editor, and writer who has been working in digital media for more than fifteen years. She started at TMS in 2016. She loves to write about TV—especially science fiction, fantasy, and mystery shows—and movies, with an emphasis on Marvel. Talk to her about fandom, queer representation, and Captain Kirk. Kaila has written for io9, Gizmodo, New York Magazine, The Awl, Wired, Cosmopolitan, and once published a Harlequin novel you'll never find.

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