A viral movement featuring Democrats who have left their party under the hashtag #WalkAway was just relegated to Russian Bot status by CNN, which published op-ed by David A. Love on Tuesday uncritically citing propaganda website "Hamilton 88" as evidence that Russia - not an organic movement - is fueling the hashtag's popularity.
#WalkAway has also now been connected to Kremlin-linked Russian bots, and it is now the seventh most popular Russia-influenced hashtag as of this writing, according to the website Hamilton 68, which tracks Russian influence on Twitter -CNN
The Walk Away campaign was launched by New York hairstylist Brandon Straka in late May, who created a Facebook page and posted a video explaining what the movement is about.
It is my sincere hope that you will join me in this campaign and that we may start a movement in this country- which not only encourages others to walk away from the divisive left, but also takes back the narrative from the liberal media about what it means to be a conservative in America. It is up to all of us to make our voices heard and reclaim the truth.
The Democratic Party has taken for granted that it owns racial, sexual, and religious minorities in America. It has encouraged groupthink, hypocrisy, division, stereotyping, resentment, and the acceptance of victimhood mentality. And all the while, they have discouraged minorities from having independent thought, open dialogue, measured and informed opinion, and a motivation to succeed.
Hamilton 68
Hamilton 68, meanwhile, is run by The Alliance for Securing Democracy and funded by the US and NATO states. It claims to track Russian bots, however it's impossible to verify their claims, as the group does not disclose their methodology - yet anti-Trump politicians and pundits alike repeat its claims uncritically. On their advisory council are NeverTrumpers Bill Kristol and David Kramer - the guy John McCain sent to London to meet with Christopher Steele and bring back the discredited Trump-Russia dossier.
US media outlets love to accuse other countries of being easily propagandized. They should look at who created "Hamilton68," the full secrecy behind it, and how mindlessly US media treats its decrees as truth. It's an amazing propaganda success https://t.co/iKjKyJc0Xy
As we concluded when we initially profiled the platform and the organization behind it, the online tool is lacking in any semblance of scientific data-driven analysis, and its conclusions are thus meaningless. It exists to give gullible audiences the illusion that a data analysis driven tech tool produced via a "bipartisan" think tank has meticulously and objectively proven the "there's a Russia connection lurking behind every corner" conspiracy theory.
Unless I am reading this wrong, it shows Russians bought ads to try and help Democrat...