Propaganda Watch: Russian Social Media Ads–3/22/2020

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-q3/2016-07 folder.

I wasn’t kidding when I said they went a little crazy with the Pokemon Go. Here’s another, p(1)0003808:

P(1)0003810 might be one I shared at one point:

P(1)0003812 combines Pokemon Go with another Russian favorite–Spongebob Squarepants!

Facebook wasn’t the only place where Russians used Pokemon Go to infiltrate the US. The Don’t Shoot group created a contest on Tumblr where people were supposed to catch a Pokemon near where African Americans were shot by police, rename the Pokemon after the victim, and upload a picture for a chance to win an Amazon gift card. It’s unknown whether or not anyone actually won.

THIS IS AN OPEN THREAD. Take care, and be well.

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