{"articles":[{"id":2717,"title":"Read the Deleted 20,000 Russian Troll Tweets","html_content":"

by Causes | 2.14.18

What’s the story?

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NBC News has created a database of over 20,000 tweets that Twitter has tied to \"malicious activity\" by Russian troll accounts during the 2016 presidential race.

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How to Access the Deleted Tweets Database

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Download tweets.csv and users.csv
View data for ten influential accounts in Google Sheets
Explore a graph database in Neo4j

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Why do the tweets matter?

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As NBC explained, \"These accounts, working in concert as part of large networks, pushed hundreds of thousands of inflammatory tweets, from fictitious tales of Democrats practicing witchcraft to hardline posts from users masquerading as Black Lives Matter activists.\" The accounts were traced to a Kremlin-backed propaganda outfit known as the Internet Research Association (IRA).

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During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats warned that Russia would attempt to use similar tactics in future elections.

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\"We expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false flag personas, sympathetic spokesmen, and other means of influence to try to build on its wide range of operations and exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States,\" Coates said.

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Twitter identified 3,814 accounts connected to the IRA, which it has since suspended.

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\"Twitter's knee jerk reaction is to purge,\" David Carroll, an associate professor of media design at the New School told NBC. \"What it does is erase history in an almost Orwellian way.\"

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NBC alluded to the concerns of Carroll and Coates in its decision to publish the tweets.

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\"Despite Twitter's pledges to crack down, Russian trolls and bots are still exploiting the social media platform to interfere with elections, including our midterms. To help shine a light on this persistent threat to democracy, NBC News is open sourcing its data.\"

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What do you think?

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Should Twitter, Facebook and other social media companies be more aggressive in combatting Russian influence operations? By deleting tweets, is Twitter erasing \"history in an almost Orwellian way\"? Did any of the deleted Tweets stand out for you? Hit Take Action and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

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—Josh Herman

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Related Reading

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(Photo Credit: Shaunl / iStock)

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