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No Sign of Foreign Trolls Inflaming Racial Tensions Amid Protests

A social-media analysis company said “there is no evidence as yet to suggest a large-scale, covert interference campaign” stoking violence.

Covert foreign disinformation trolls haven’t showed up to exacerbate racial tensions surrounding protests against the killing of George Floyd, according to a new report from social media analysis company, Graphika. “There is no evidence as yet to suggest a large-scale, covert interference campaign” like the one waged during the 2016 presidential campaign, the firm wrote in a report released Wednesday. Some officials like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) have warned that foreign adversaries were “actively stoking & promoting violence & confrontation from multiple angles.” But the Graphika report says at least so far, state propaganda from countries like China and Iran has focused instead on using the protests to discredit criticism of their own human rights and police abuse problems. Russian state propaganda focused less on emphasizing a central narrative and more on on-the-ground coverage “in line with a practice of highlighting genuine grievances and protests in the West.”