Russian bots began working to divide Americans over gun control an hour after the Parkland shooting

Protesters rally for gun control after the Parkland shooting.
(Image credit: RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images)

Russian bots took advantage of America's divisions over gun control and the Second Amendment within an hour of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, last week, The New York Times reports.

After initial reports of the attack, hundreds of posts from Twitter accounts linked to Russia ignited rumors that the suspected gunman, Nikolas Cruz, had Googled Arabic phrases before the attack. The accounts also jumped on hashtags like #Parklandshooting, #AR15, and #NRA while other bots pushed for #guncontrolnow and #gunreformnow. "This is pretty typical for them, to hop on breaking news like this," explained New Knowledge's Jonathon Morgan, who works to track disinformation campaigns. "The bots focus on anything that is divisive for Americans. Almost systematically."

The bots used similar tactics during the presidential election, pushing support for Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders and stoking Islamophobia and debates over immigration. The strategy appears to involve nudging ideas that would otherwise remain on the fringes "slightly more mainstream," Morgan added.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Russia-linked accounts that jumped on the Parkland shooting have since moved on to the hashtag #falseflag, pushing a conspiracy theory that the shooting never took place. The bots are "going to find any contentious issue, and instead of making it an opportunity for compromise and negotiation, they turn it into an unsolvable issue bubbling with frustration," explained media professor Karen North. "It just heightens that frustration and anger."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.