November 1, 2017

Here Are the Social Media Ads That Russia Used to Influence the Election

The House intelligence committee just released a bunch of startling examples.

The House intelligence committee on Wednesday released a trove of social media ads from 2016 that were created by firms connected to the Russian government with the purpose of influencing the election. The sample ads spanned a wide variety of divisive topics—religion, race gun control, and more—and appear to confirm lawmakers’ concerns that Russia sought to interfere in US politics by fomenting cultural tensions among voters. 

The public release comes amid startling reports that Facebook content generated by Russian operatives may have reached more than one-third of the the entire US population. This week, representatives from Facebook, Google, and Twitter appeared before Congress to explain how such efforts went undetected, as well as outline measures the companies are now taking to prevent future foreign political interference. 

The ads released Wednesday range from race-baiting screeds to a bizarre “Buff Bernie” coloring book. Here’s a sample:

Bernie Sanders and LGBT Issues

Anti-Immigrants Rants

Gun Control

“Killary” Clinton, the Military, and Benghazi

Despite the tech giants’ assurances that they are working to stop foreign propaganda from appearing on their platforms, recent studies show that Russian trolls continue to infiltrate American social media, with posts attacking special counsel Robert Mueller’s credibility and pushing Hillary Clinton conspiracy theories.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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