How Russian Trolls Went Local
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
4.3 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 21 February 2018
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus dig into special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s recent indictment of 13 Russian nationals and 3 Russian companies for their role in tampering with the 2016 election. Jonathan Albright from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia join the hosts to talk about his take on the indictments, and the research he’s conducted that show how the big social media companies were manipulated by Russian trolls from the Internet Research Agency at a rate far greater than those companies claimed.
Don’t Close My Tabs:
The Verge: Google Removes ‘View Image’ Button From Search Results Vulture:
Podcast production by Max Jacobs.
If Then plugs:
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to If Then, the show about how technology is changing our lives and our future. |
| 0:12.1 | I'm Will Oremus. |
| 0:13.3 | And I'm April Glazer. |
| 0:23.9 | Hey, everyone, welcome to If Then. |
| 0:29.8 | We're coming to you from Slate and Future Tense, a partnership between Slate, Arizona State University, and New America. |
| 0:33.5 | We're recording this on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 20th. |
| 0:38.6 | On today's show, we'll talk about the charges dropped last Friday by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, |
| 0:42.1 | who's been investigating the Russian interference in the 2016 election. |
| 0:45.8 | He indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies. |
| 0:50.6 | His indictment gave us the fullest picture yet of how Russian agents allegedly organized and carried out their political trolling operation. |
| 0:53.7 | Later, we'll be joined by Jonathan Albright, the director of research at the Tao Center for |
| 0:58.0 | Digital Journalism at Columbia University. He's been investigating the posts and accounts made by |
| 1:02.9 | Russian agents on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms, and has on earthed |
| 1:07.6 | all kinds of important details about how this disinformation campaign played out. |
| 1:12.1 | And we'll end, as usual, with Don't Close My Tabs, our picks for the best on the web this week. |
| 1:17.5 | Okay, Will, how are you doing this week? |
| 1:19.5 | I'm doing well. Friday was a crazy news day with the Mueller indictment. |
| 1:23.1 | I think we're still sifting through it and making sense of it. What about you? |
| 1:27.3 | Same, you know, still making sense of it and other bits of news that have dropped in relation to it. |
| 1:33.1 | It was certainly a bombshell and a Friday news dump. |
| 1:36.6 | It was. And so the indictment, which we alluded to at the top of the show, named 13 Russian nationals, three Russian companies. |
| 1:43.7 | It was actually a fascinating read from start to finish. |
... |
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