Russia’s Troll Factory Just Launched A New Website Targeting Americans
Might be a new direction in information warfare
Three months after being indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice, the notorious Russian troll factory known as the Internet Research Agency (IRA) has launched a new media venture targeting Americans. This time, however, there’s reason to believe the project may not be just another influence operation, but rather an intelligence gathering experiment.
The project, called “USA Really. Wake Up Americans,” was first announced in April by RIA FAN (riafan.ru), a St. Petersburg-based media empire that is known to be an offshoot of the Internet Research Agency. In a joint press release/job announcement that appeared in both Russian and English, RIA FAN called on English-speaking journalists and authors to apply for the new venture, which was described as an “information agency” that would combat “growing political censorship imposed by the United States” by “promoting information and problems that are hushed up by major American publications controlled by the US political elite.”
EU vs Disinfo, a disinformation task force, reported on the project two weeks after the announcement was posted in April, and several days later, Lawrence Alexander of Global Voices published a follow-up report documenting the links between “USA Really” and the Internet Research Agency. At the time, the new propaganda outlet was still in the planning phase.
Not anymore.
USAReally.com published its first article on May 17th, but the full rollout came just in time for Memorial Day weekend.
The Twitter account @USA_Really was established at 3:51 a.m. EST on Friday, May 25, and the first tweet was sent within two hours. At the time,
“USA Really” was still publishing on a LiveJournal site that remained active as of Tuesday, May 29 (archived link). The initial tweets sent by @USA_Really linked to stories on the LiveJournal site. The first tweet that linked to an article published on USAReally.com was sent on Monday, May 28.
Two days after launching its Twitter account, “USA Really” rolled out its Facebook page and started posting links to the website. The first post on the Facebook page advocated for Louisiana to secede from the rest of the United States — mirroring previous Russian propaganda campaigns that pushed secessionist movements in Texas and California. Meanwhile, the first public post on the Facebook page was a single letter (“S”), posted by a Russian account.
As the awkward name suggests, this venture isn’t the most sophisticated operation. However, its existence shows that Russia is still actively pursuing new avenues to reach American audiences (particularly Trump supporters, as you’ll see shortly)—and despite all the congressional hearings and headlines about digital manipulation, a clearly Russian-backed project was able to establish (and in at least one case, maintain) a presence on two of the largest social media platforms in America.
The Who, What, and Why of “USA Really”
The following section briefly describes the “who, what and why” of “USA Really,” focusing on who is behind the venture and who works for it, what type of content the propaganda outlet is creating, and why this new platform may have been established in the first place.
Who?
The Funders: While some attempts were made to obscure its ties to the Internet Research Agency, it’s not difficult to trace “USA Really” back to the Russian-funded organization.
As Lawrence Alexander found in his technical analysis of “USA Really,” at least nine different domains— including usareally.com, usareally.net, usareally.org, usareally.biz, usareally.us, usareally.space, americareally.info, usareally.info, and usareally.ru—were all registered on April 4, 2018 using the name “USAReally” (or, in one case, “AmericaReally”).
The website lists its contact email as work@usareally.com, but the designated mail server for USAReally.com is mx.yandex.net — part of Russia’s Yandex service.
Of the nine domains registered on April 4, all but one were registered anonymously using regprivate.ru, which is part reg.ru — a Russian domain registrar used previously by the Internet Research Agency.
However, one of the domains, USAReally.us, left identifiable information on the domain registry page. The person listed as the registrant is Evgenii Zubarev, the CEO of RIA FAN, which actually shares a building with the Internet Research Agency.
Furthermore, as Lawrence Alexander described, “On April 4, no more than a few hours after the USAReally domains had been registered, at least 20 such VK [a Russian equivalent of Facebook] pages (including PolitDigest, Politstar and Putin Speaks) published links to the RIA FAN press release.”
And long before the emergence of “USA Really,” the links between RIA FAN and the Internet Research Agency were already thoroughly documented.
The Authors: So who works for this Internet Research Agency-backed venture? In short, the same authors who work at other Russian propaganda outlets.
Andrew Korybko, one of the authors who writes for “USA Really,” is also listed as an author at Sputnik and several other Russian propaganda outlets. Though his name is spelled differently by one letter on “USA Really,” the disclaimer at the bottom of his articles on the website is nearly identical to a disclaimer displayed as his pinned tweet on Twitter.
Walt Garlington, another “USA Really” author who wrote, among other things, an article advocating for Louisiana to secede from the rest of the U.S., is also listed as an author for several other Russian propaganda outlets, including a think tank run by extremist Russian nationalist Aleksandr Dugin and a Romanian nationalist website that is one of many channels carrying Russian propaganda into Romania. According to his bio on these websites, the author “makes his home in Louisiana of Dixie.” His bio on “USA Really” also says he “once worshiped a false god: the Idea of America.”
The Social Network: Shortly after the site launched, “USA Really” established social media profiles on both Facebook and Twitter.
I started monitoring @USA_Really’s Twitter profile the day after the account was created on May 25, so I was able to observe the account’s activity as it started following people, gaining followers, tweeting, and engaging with tweets. I started archiving material on May 27, two days after the account was created, and continued doing so for three days. I started monitoring and archiving material from “USA_Really’s” Facebook page the day it was created (May 27), and continued doing so for three days.
At the time of this writing, the Twitter page is still active, but the Facebook page has been deactivated.
At approximately 5 p.m. EST on May 28, @USA_Really had only 29 Twitter followers, but it was actively gaining more at a pace that would quickly speed up over the next several days. By 6:30 p.m., it was up to 35 followers. By late in the day on Saturday, June 2, it was up to 495 followers, and by 10 p.m. EST on Monday, June 4, it was up to 527 followers.
On May 28, @USA_Really was following 589 accounts. By June 3, it was following 1,721 accounts, but a day later that number had dropped back down to 1,709 accounts. The drop in the number of accounts followed by @USA_Really could reflect a number of things — for example, it’s possible that some of those accounts were banned or suspended, or that some of them blocked @USA_Really when it started following them. It’s also possible that @USA_Really stopped following certain accounts in an effort to erase its digital footprints.
The most noteworthy characteristic of @USA_Really’s Twitter profile is that the earliest accounts it followed — and the earliest accounts that followed it back—were almost exclusively embedded within a pro-Trump network. Many of the accounts bear the hallmark characteristics of the Russian-backed accounts that were used to boost Trump during the 2016 election, including “patriotic” symbolism (e.g., flags, eagles, etc) and excessive use of hashtags and emojis, while others featured Christian symbols and imagery.
The pro-Trump, “patriotic” theme characterizing @USA_Really’s Twitter network is particularly apparent when viewing the small group of accounts that were the first to follow @USA_Really, as you can see below.
The Twitter accounts followed by “USA Really” are similarly pro-Trump. Some of them are known figures, while others appear to be a mixture of sock-puppets, automated accounts, trolls, and actual Trump supporters.
Included among the early Twitter accounts followed by “USA Really” are:
- @RedNationRising (a popular pro-Trump/propaganda platform that has featured prominently in social media campaigns like “#ReleaseTheMemo”)
- @MAGAPILL (the Twitter account associated with a conspiracy theory website that Trump retweeted in November).
- @TrumpSuperPAC (a pro-Trump/propaganda account that was heavily retweeted by known Russian-backed accounts during the 2016 election, and that features prominently on Russian state propaganda outlets including Sputnik, as well as in social media campaigns, such as the call to boycott Starbucks over its plan to hire refugees).
- @TrumpNewsz (another popular pro-Trump/propaganda platform that frequently tweets disparagingly about the U.S. intelligence community and the Russia investigation).
- @RyanAFournier (chairman of a group called “Students for Trump”).
- @LindaSuhler (one of the most influential pro-Trump accounts, which may or not be a real person, according to a February 2017 study published in the peer reviewed journal Science).
- @DineshDSouza (the convicted felon who received a pardon from Trump this week).
- @RealCandaceO (described as a “far-right conspiracy theorist” and Trump supporter with a penchant for doxxing and Kanye West).
The first 250 accounts that @USA_Really followed are posted below, in the order they were followed.
Of course, the fact that an account follows @USA_Really (or is followed by them) doesn’t necessarily mean anything on its own. We can’t assume that any specific user knew that they were following a Russian propaganda account when they followed it, nor can we assign nefarious intent to the act.
Having said that, it’s a pretty damning indictment of Trump and his supporters that a Russian operation targeting Americans knows that it has a receptive audience in pro-Trump social media users — and that it can appeal to Trump supporters by parroting attacks on U.S. institutions like the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
What?
Since it first launched, “USA Really” has published well over 100 articles, averaging nearly 10 per day. The content covers everything from the volcano in Hawaii to uninsured Americans, economic news, and criminal investigations. While much of the content can be described as benign, a significant proportion of articles are distinctly anti-American in their tone, and many of them focus on socially and politically divisive issues such as crime and violence, guns, and police brutality, as you can see in the sample below.
Other articles take aim at the intelligence community, echoing Trump’s conspiracy theories about the “deep state” and peddling misinformation about special counsel Robert Mueller. Here’s an excerpt from one article, titled “The Six Phased Strategy Behind The Mueller Probe”:
All of America is sick and tired of hearing about the Mueller probe, with everyone having already made up their own minds by now about whether Trump’s guilty of “colluding” with Russia or not. Even so, people can’t get away from hearing about this investigation because it’s literally everywhere. Though there’s a reason behind this and it’s not just because the Democrats are obsessed with impeaching Trump. That’s a part of it, or rather, that was a part of it, but in fact a lot more because that specific objective is only a section in a plan with Russiagate. There are international implications to this fake witch hunt investigation such as sabotaging any immediate post-election prospects for a “New Détente” between the US and Russia.
The article reads like a page out of a Russian propaganda textbook. According to the author, the first “strategy” of Mueller’s probe is to “Incite Color Revolutionary Regime Change Unrest Against Trump” — and of course, George Soros is involved:
Coming on the heels of the “#NotMyPresident” Color Revolutionary regime change unrest, the Mueller probe aimed to breathe new life into this superficially “grassroots” but Soros-organized movement by encouraging it to return to the streets every time a new “revelation” was alleged against the President. The Democrats didn’t really think that “the resistance” would ever topple Trump but just that the threat of disproportionately publicized “bottom-up” pressure might make him “compromise” on his campaign promises and therefore avoid the system-shaking scenarios that he was originally poised to bring.
Meanwhile, other articles blatantly plagiarize content from U.S. news outlets:
Another article plagiarized a Hawaiian news outlet but changed the title to make readers think it was referring to Hillary Clinton (the article was actually about Darryl Clinton, who was struck by a so-called “lava bomb” and seriously injured late last month).
Why?
The “Who?” and “What?” questions can be answered relatively easily by looking at the digital footprints, online presence, and social network characteristics associated with “USA Really” and its social media accounts, but determining the purpose of the new venture is somewhat less straightforward.
While it’s certainly possible that “USA Really” is exactly what it appears to be—a new channel to bring covert Russian propaganda to an American audience—there’s also reason to believe there may be more going on than meets the eye.
When we talk about influence operations and information warfare, we usually talk about tactics such as the dissemination of propaganda, the strategic placement of disinformation, and the use of automated accounts and algorithm manipulation to artificially amplify certain messages or content. However, it’s important to remember that information warfare is not unidirectional. Weaponizing information and releasing it into the information space is only part of the picture—the other part involves the collection of information and intelligence from target populations. This is achieved through a variety of methods, including cyberattacks (e.g., hacking, malware, and spearphishing), human intelligence collection, mass- and targeted data collection, and leveraging social media capabilities for purposes such as surveillance, social network mapping, sentiment analysis, and geo-tracking.
Digital environments, particularly social media platforms, provide a prime opportunity for gathering detailed and dynamic information about individuals, networks, communication styles, activity patterns, and more—all of which can yield crucial insight about the information environment and the actors operating in it. This information can then be used for purposes such as target audience analysis (TAA), and to inform future operations and the selection of new targets (individuals and groups).
So how might “USA Really” be used for such efforts?
For one thing, it’s possible “USA Really” left such obvious digital footprints connecting it to the Internet Research Agency because it wanted to be noticed so it could identify who is tracking these types of ventures and how they are doing it. Want to avoid being detected in the future? Learning how you’re being detected now is a good start.
It may also be the case that “USA Really” has included (or plans to include) malicious code in some of the links to its articles, in the hopes of installing tracking cookies, spyware, or other types of malware on the computers of those who click the link. This would allow for the collection of vast amounts of personal data, as well as valuable information on user behavior and online preferences, all of which could be used to develop profiles for a variety of purposes.
“USA Really” could also be hoping to leverage social media for activities like network mapping or to make contact with sympathetic Trump supporters who may be willing to provide assistance with other ventures. It may also simply be running a test to push the boundaries and see how much it can get away with in the post-2016 social media environment. For example, the Facebook page associated with “USA Really” got shut down within a matter of a few days, but the Twitter profile is still active 10 days later.
And again, it’s definitely possible that “USA Really” is just a shoddy propaganda platform— nothing more, nothing less. However, the brazenness of the rollout at this point in time calls into question whether those behind the project wanted to be discovered so news outlets would report on it, draw attention to it, and bring curious users to the website and associated social media pages. The behavior of the social media accounts associated with “USA Really”—particularly its Twitter account—seem to lend some credence to these suspicions. For the past several days, @USA_Really has subtly (and in some cases, not so subtly) trolled Twitter users who are (over)reacting to the existence of the platform and, in a good faith effort gone wrong, steering more people towards the website and its social media accounts.
Conclusions
To effectively influence a population, it’s first necessary to understand that population and the environment in which actors and groups operate. It has long been known that the Kremlin places a high priority on understanding the nuances of American life, including words, actions, sociocultural dynamics, personality traits, and cognitive processes.
With Americans more aware and attuned to Russian propaganda and disinformation campaigns following the 2016 elections, it’s unlikely that the same strategies would achieve the same level of success in 2018—particularly since social media platforms have (supposedly) taken steps to address the vulnerabilities that have been identified over the past 18 months.
Russia knows it is operating in a new information environment, and it is likely to engage in efforts to understand the new information space and develop strategies to more effectively manipulate it. If we’ve learned anything since the influence operation of 2016, it’s that there is usually more going on than meets the eye. The things we see are often just the tip of the iceberg—and even then, their intent is often masked and obscured.
While “USA Really” could just be another channel for Russia to spread propaganda to American audiences, it would be foolish not to consider other possibilities. Information warfare is not a static activity. The delivery and dissemination of disinformation is the most obvious manifestation of the problem, but the collection of information is what allows operatives to develop and refine strategies in an evolving information environment.
While we should absolutely carry the lessons of 2016 into the future, assuming that we know what 2018 and 2020 will look like based on 2016 is a surefire way to get blindsided—again.
