Dems Ask FB, Twitter To Probe If Russian Bots Boosted Nunes’ Memo Hashtag

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 6: (L to R) Ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) talk with each other during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing concerning firearm accessory regulatio... WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 6: (L to R) Ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) talk with each other during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing concerning firearm accessory regulation and enforcing federal and state reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) on Capitol Hill, December 6, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

California Democrats Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Adam Schiff are asking Twitter and Facebook to probe whether a hashtag promoting the release of a classified memo compiled by Republicans was propagated by Russian bots.

In a letter sent to the two companies’ CEOs Tuesday, Schiff and Feinstein asked the social media giants for “urgent assistance” in “our efforts to counter Russia’s continuing efforts to manipulate public opinion.”

The memo in question was authored by Rep. Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) staffers. It reportedly contains classified information about the conduct of senior Department of Justice and FBI officials that allegedly proves Republicans’ claims of the Justice Department’s bias against President Donald Trump. The memo was made available to the entire House of Representatives on Thursday, which prompted calls on social media for the memo to be made public, including a Twitter hashtag “#ReleaseTheMemo.” The memo reportedly has not been shared with the Justice Department, Politico and the Daily Beast reported. 

Citing reports from multiple news outlets, Schiff and Feinstein said that by Friday the hashtag “was ‘the top trending hashtag among Twitter accounts believed to be operated by Kremlin-linked groups’” and was being used “‘100 times more than any other hashtag’ by accounts linked to Russian influence campaigns,” the pair said in the letter.

They asked Facebook and Twitter to determine by Jan. 26 how many Russian influence accounts were linked to social media posts calling for the release of the memo; “the frequency and volume of their postings on this topic;” and how many non-bot Twitter and Facebook users had been exposed to posts calling for the memo’s release.

Read the letter below:

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for fuzz fuzz says:

    Russian bots went crazy supporting Nunes nonsense in the wee early AM hours before his whacky presser last year. I would bet $1000 that Nunes is not just protecting Trump but somehow working with Russia, either unwittingly or via kompromat blackmail or whatever.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDNR9cpMEw4
  2. Don’t worry, Nunes will release it as soon as Faux News’ executives and producers are finished reviewing it and planning out their propaganda blitz surrounding its release.

    And let’s be honest here: Nunes isn’t just acting like someone who is desperate to protect Trump. He’s acting like someone who is desperate to protect Nunes. I’m at the point of assuming he’s implicated at some point.

  3. “According to Klayman, Montgomery also claimed these security agencies had manipulated voting in Florida during the 2008 United States presidential election.”

    Funny how there’s always at least ONE nugget that shows it all comes back to white nationalism, eh?

  4. Well there should be at least one person in the WH and one person at the DoJ that shouldn’t be able to read it. The WH person still hasn’t gotten their security clearance and the DoJ person lied and lied, and lied some more to Congress.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

39 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for paulw Avatar for sandi Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for jep07 Avatar for cervantes Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for doctorbiobrain Avatar for irasdad Avatar for mickeyg Avatar for sniffit Avatar for lastroth Avatar for jkrogman Avatar for sarenarterius Avatar for fuzz Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for floydmaster Avatar for tsp Avatar for joriep Avatar for maximus Avatar for coprophagoussmile Avatar for drtv Avatar for phillip Avatar for msc00

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: