SecureWorld News

Russia-Linked Tweets Trying to Divide Voters in Florida Election

Written by SecureWorld News Team | Mon | Nov 12, 2018 | 12:47 PM Z

As if things aren't divided enough already in Florida.

The races for governor and for one of Florida's U.S. Senate seats are so close that a recount is required. Essentially, this means there was a 50-50 split in which candidates Floridians favor.

And over the weekend we checked out the Alliance for Securing Democracy, which tracks Russia-linked influence operations on Twitter. 

It turns out the Russia linked accounts have the following topics in their top 10 most frequently tweeted about topics:

  • Florida
  • Democrats
  • Broward County. Broward is one of the counties where some raised allegations of ballot irregularities in the election. 

Here are the top tweets over the last 48 hours from the Russia-linked accounts, according to the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

Oh, and by the way, these Russia-linked accounts use #hashtags (of course), and the number one hashtag they used over the weekend was #StoptheSteal.

As in, "stop the election in Florida from being stolen." 

Russia's divide and conquer strategy may have been more muted on a national level in the midterm elections than during the 2016 election. Now, however, it appears a new campaign is stoking the fears and suspicions of those who voted in Florida.

The most important question is this: Are Floridians aware of this?