美国国防部获得的文件显示,美国军方正准备应对俄罗斯可能发布的有关冠状病毒爆发传播的虚假信息新闻周刊。
军事策划者正积极追踪由俄罗斯政府运营或可归因于俄罗斯政府的账户发布的虚假信息。文件显示,1月28日至2月3日,“冠状病毒”标签是俄罗斯主要新闻推特账户使用最多的标签。
关于新冠状病毒充斥社交媒体的信息引起了世界卫生组织官员的关注,他们说他们正在努力减少“信息传播”这些官员说,这种运动虽然并不罕见,但却是实施有效应对的障碍。
但是通过以下方式获得的文件新闻周刊更广泛地揭示了美国军方在激烈的选举年追踪和详细报道社交媒体的努力。美国网络司令部的网络官员预计,俄罗斯将进一步干预2020年的总统选举,这可能会与2016年克里姆林宫的努力相媲美。
为军事规划者标记为“非机密”的演示文稿准备的幻灯片显示了美国北方军是如何在推特上追踪“信息环境”的,包括苏联人造卫星(Sputnik,RT)(以前称为“今日俄罗斯”)、国防部拥有的Zvezda频道以及由这些媒体运营的俄语、英语、西班牙语、法语、德语和土耳其语的简介。这些文件包含了表现最好的账户的社交媒体覆盖范围,以及最受欢迎的标签、关键短语和最成功的故事。
(您可以查看这里的文件)。
其中一张幻灯片展示了俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京(Vladimir Putin)张开双臂,通过推特、YouTube和脸书等社交媒体平台向世界发布莫斯科的信息。这些文件是由多名美国官员获得的,他们随后将文件提供给新闻周刊。官员们要求匿名,因为他们无权透露信息。
“这些文件并不代表当前的评估、方法或行动,”一名美国陆军北方发言人在一份声明中说。"从这些文件中得出任何结论都是不合适的。"
史泼尼克拒绝置评,但告诉记者新闻周刊向五角大楼致以“最诚挚的问候”Zvevda频道没有回复。
“当我们拥抱我们美国观众的所有部分,并希望他们喜欢我们在所有平台上的内容时,我们不禁认为美国的军事资源最好不要用在屏幕上,而用在对抗冠状病毒的物理准备上,”RT在给的电子邮件声明中说新闻周刊。
1月29日,一名戴着医用口罩的游客走在莫斯科街头。《新闻周刊》获得的文件显示,美国北方军正在追踪推特上的“信息环境”,观察由俄罗斯政府运营或隶属于俄罗斯政府的账户的活动。
这种新的冠状病毒是一种源自中国武汉的病毒爆发,它传播到包括俄罗斯在内的全球28个国家和地区,通过追踪俄罗斯政府账户主导社交媒体互动。
根据约翰·霍普金斯大学的追踪网站,此次疫情已经导致565人死亡,超过28,000人感染。受影响的绝大多数人在中国大陆,湖北省的主要城市已经被隔离,试图阻止病毒的传播。
被监控的账户提到了567次疫情,其中“冠状病毒中国”标签被使用了91次。其他流行的标签是“英国退出欧盟”(使用151次)、“俄国”(使用116次)、“特朗普”(使用70次)和“中国”(使用70次)。
“冠状病毒”也是最常见的关键词,在详细的时间段内使用了528次。第二名是222分的“特朗普”,第三名是135分的“英国退出欧盟”。其他与冠状病毒相关的关键词使得这个话题更加突出,如“冠状病毒爆发”(119次)、“武汉”(110次)和“冠状病毒中国”(87次)。
在人们担心自身安全的时候,世卫组织全球传染病风险防范主任西尔维·布里安德博士说,世卫组织官员努力澄清可用于防止恐慌的信息。根据世卫组织的说法,这项任务落在世卫组织技术风险沟通和社交媒体团队的肩上,他们负责跟踪和回应“神话和谣言”。
军方文件列出了被追踪的俄罗斯账户分享的前10条表现最佳的推文,其中10条涉及最多的帖子与冠状病毒爆发有关。
首先,通过17,500次社交媒体互动,是:”俄罗斯关闭了与中国的边境因为冠状病毒爆发。第二个接受了6500次互动,内容是:“首先两起案件在俄罗斯证实的冠状病毒,都是中国公民。"
另外两篇关于冠状病毒的帖子详细介绍了评论这份由商务部长威尔伯·罗斯撰写的报告指出,在24小时内新报告的受害者人数创下新记录后,疫情可能对经济有益(4600次互动),也是“中国最致命的一天”。
在选定的时间段内,俄罗斯支持的最活跃的账户是RT的西班牙语账户(1,658条推文)、Sputnik的土耳其语页面(1,122条推文)和Sputnik的英语频道(1,046条推文)。
被分析的一周中最喜欢和转发次数最多的是RT的西班牙语账户(232,700次喜欢和113,300次转发)、Sputnik的土耳其语页面(134,300次喜欢和19,000次转发)和RT的英语频道(75,000次喜欢和39,900次转发)。
东部时间20年6月2日下午2:38,更正:这篇文章的前一个版本歪曲了一名高级官员对俄罗斯社交媒体账户的了解程度。《新闻周刊》对这个错误表示遗憾。
EXCLUSIVE: DOCUMENTS REVEAL U.S. MILITARY IS TRACKING RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT NEWS AGENCIES FOR DISINFORMATION ON CORONAVIRUS
The U.S. military is bracing for possible Russian disinformation regarding the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, according to Department of Defense documents obtained by Newsweek.
Military planners are actively tracking disinformation campaigns promulgated by accounts operated by — or attributable to — the Russian government. Between January 28 and February 3, the "coronavirus" hashtag was the most used by major Russian news Twitter accounts, according to the documents.
Information about the new coronavirus flooding social media was cause for concern among World Health Organization (WHO) officials who said they were working to diminish an "infodemic." Such campaigns, while not uncommon, are an obstacle for implementing an effective response, those officials said.
But the documents obtained by Newsweek more broadly reveal U.S. military efforts to track and detail social media during a heated election year as cyber officials at U.S. Cyber Command are anticipating further Russian meddling in the 2020 presidential elections which could rival Kremlin efforts in 2016.
Slides prepared for a PowerPoint briefing marked "unclassified" by military planners show how the U.S. Army North is tracking the "information environment" on Twitter, including the accounts of Sputnik, RT (formerly known as Russia Today), the Ministry of Defense-owned Channel Zvezda, and Russian, English, Spanish, French, German, and Turkish language profiles operated by those outlets. The documents contain the social media reach of the top-performing accounts, plus the most popular hashtags, key phrases and most successful stories shared on each.
(You can view the documents here).
One of the slides shows an illustration of Russian President Vladimir Putin with an outstretched arm and an open hand as he releases Moscow's message to the world through social media platforms like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. The files were obtained by multiple American officials who then provided the documents to Newsweek. The officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the information.
"The documents are not indicative of current assessments, approaches, or operations," a U.S. Army North spokesperson said in a statement. "It would be inappropriate to draw any conclusions from these documents."
Sputnik declined to comment but told Newsweek to send the Pentagon its "best regards." No reply was returned from Channel Zvevda.
"While we embrace all segments of our American audience, and hope they enjoy our content across all platforms, we can't help but think that U.S. Military resources would be better spent away from the screens and on physical preparations against the coronavirus," RT said in an email statement to Newsweek.
A tourist wearing a medical mask walks along a street in Moscow on January 29. Documents obtained by Newsweek show U.S. Army North is tracking the “information environment” on Twitter, watching the activity of accounts run by—or attributable to—the Russian government.
The new coronavirus, a viral outbreak originating in Wuhan, China, which spread to 28 countries and territories worldwide including Russia, dominated social media interactions by the tracked Russian government accounts.
The outbreak has killed 565 people and infected more than 28,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracking website. The vast majority of those affected are in mainland China, where major cities in Hubei Province have been quarantined to try and stymie the virus' spread.
The outbreak was mentioned 567 times by the monitored accounts, with the "CoronavirusChino" hashtag used 91 times.Other popular hashtags were "Brexit" (used 151 times), "Russia" (used 116 times), "Trump" (used 70 times), and "China" (70 times).
"Coronavirus" also topped the list of most common key phrases, used 528 times in the period detailed. Second was "Trump" with 222, and third "Brexit" with 135. Other coronavirus-related key phrases make the topic even more dominant, such as "coronavirus outbreak" (119 uses), "Wuhan" (110 uses), and "CoronavirusChino" (87 times).
At a time when people are concerned about their own safety, Dr. Sylvie Briand, Director of Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness for WHO, said WHO officials work hard to clarify the information that's available to prevent panic. This task falls on the WHO technical risk communication and social media teams, which track and respond to "myths and rumors," according to WHO.
The military documents listed the top 10 performing tweets shared by the tracked Russian accounts, with the ten posts with the most engagements were related to the coronavirus outbreak.
First, with 17,500 social media interactions, was: "Russia closes border with China in its Far East due to coronavirus outbreak." The second, which received 6,500 interactions, read: "First two cases of coronavirus confirmed in Russia, both Chinese citizens."
The other two posts about coronavirus detailed comments made by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross which suggest the epidemic could be good for the economy (4,600 interactions) and the "deadliest day for China" after a new record was set for the number of newly reported victims in a 24-hour window.
The most active Russian-backed accounts during the selected time period were RT's Spanish-language account (1,658 tweets), Sputnik's Turkish-language page (1,122 tweets), and Sputnik's English-language channel (1,046 tweets).
Those with the most likes and retweets during the week analyzed were RT's Spanish-language account (232,700 likes and 113,300 retweets), Sputnik's Turkish-language page (134,300 likes and 19,000 retweets), and RT's English-language channel (75,00 likes and 39,900 retweets).
Correction 2/06/20, 2:38 p.m. ET: A previous version of this article misrepresented a top official's level of awareness about Russian social media accounts. Newsweek regrets the error.