Read on Twitter
Thread: On Monday, we published an investigation by @jordanliles into how a likely Russian account was an admin in a "Pennsylvania for Trump" FB Group since before the 2016 election.
Facebook removed the account this month, hours after we asked questions. https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
Facebook removed the account this month, hours after we asked questions. https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
The likely Russian admin, "Gina Grin," had been active in the group for 4+ years. The account posted a profile photo of actress Willa Ford, and pretended to be the pictured woman. They even mirrored the image to avoid reverse image search detection. https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
The admin account had posted a photo of puppies, claiming they belonged to her. She even gave them names and ages.
The images came from Pinterest, and a Google image search for "german shepherd puppies siblings" shows the same picture as the first result. https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
The images came from Pinterest, and a Google image search for "german shepherd puppies siblings" shows the same picture as the first result. https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
Leading up to Election Day 2016, posts by the likely Russian admin in "Pennsylvania for Trump" concentrated on Pennsylvania politics as well as defending Russia from accusations of interfering in the 2016 election, which continued after Nov. 8. https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
The person or people who managed Gina Grin's accounts used her profiles to generate a broader audience to perhaps lend credibility to the Facebook Groups in which she participated. She also consistently commented and posted links to the hacked DNC emails. https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
The admin account in this swing state group reeked of foreign fakery. It made what appeared to be a mistake by liking the page Молекулярная диагностика 2020, a science conference in Moscow supported by The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
Nina Jankowicz ( @wiczipedia), who studies disinformation with @TheWilsonCenter, told us this in regard to the Russian page like: https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
Facebook initially told us they had not taken action on the group. We then emailed a second time with questions about the likely Russian connection.
Hours later, the admin account and a backup account both vanished. Facebook did not send a second response https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
Hours later, the admin account and a backup account both vanished. Facebook did not send a second response https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
We asked Darren Linvell, creator of the Spot a Troll quiz, about foreign troll accounts from 2016 still being around four years later in 2020. https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
We were unable to confirm if the "Pennsylvania for Trump" Facebook Group (now called "Support Melania Trump") is still active. An admin set the group’s visibility to Hidden, meaning only its members can see it. Facebook provided no answers here. https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
One viral disinformation post from the likely Russian account was shared 149,000 times, and @factcheckdotorg even happened to fact-check it. It's likely that the activity generated by this foreign effort reached millions of Americans between 2016 and 2020. https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
Read our full investigation by @jordanliles into a likely Russian account serving as an admin in a swing state Facebook Group here: https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/10/26/pennsylvania-trump-facebook-group/?utm_source=thread&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ggthread
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