Propaganda Watch: Russian Social Media Ads–7/6/19

Russian President Vladimir Putin superimposed into a Russian Flag. Image by Lenny Ghoul.

This is part of an ongoing series where I review some of the ads purchased by the Russians. In doing so I hope we can get a better understanding of what they were trying to do, and how to recognize it the next time we’re faced with propaganda.

If you want to follow along, the ads can all be downloaded here. All of today’s ads can be found in the 2016-q1/2016-02 folder.

February 2016 was the month of the protest. There were so many ads promoting (or possibly creating) protests and actions that it will take me more than one post to address them.

After a brief hiatus from posts, the LGBT United group returned for a few ads encouraging people to show up at an Arizona high school to show support for two girls who were victims of a murder/suicide. This action was to show support for “homo love” as the girls were romantically involved. P(1)0000154 is an example:

While I was able to find a mention of a candlelight vigil in their honor, it had occurred the week before the ad was posted. I could not find record of this protest happening.

Another one I couldn’t find a record of was the Texas Secession demonstration encouraged by p(1)0002676:

Some ads were redacted, whether names, places, or dates. I cannot figure out why some ads were redacted while others weren’t.

P(1)0001968 encouraged black patriots to come together and protest the genocide of people of color:

P(1)0000646 called for a protest at the United Nations building in New York City. I could not find a record of this protest either. It may have been less successful because the end date of the ad came two days after the start date:

There will be more of these to come so stay tuned.

THIS IS AN OPEN THREAD. Have a wonderful Saturday.

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