Thousands of people marched against Trump last November. Russia secretly organized that protest.


On Nov. 12, 2016, thousands of people in New York City protested against Donald Trump, then the president-elect, by marching from Manhattan's Union Square to Trump Tower some 40 blocks away. At the time, PBS reported that the march was organized by BlackMatters, "a nonprofit news outlet which focuses on black issues in the United States."
In reality, BuzzFeed News reported Wednesday, the event was hosted on Facebook by "BM, a known alias of the BlackMattersUS." Last month, Russian news outlet RBC outed BlackMattersUS as linked to the Internet Research Agency — a Russian troll farm operating out of St. Petersburg.
The BlackMattersUS page is no longer accessible on Facebook, but an archived events page shows the march had been shared with 61,000 people. Roughly 33,000 more were interested in the event, and 16,000 people marked themselves as "going."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

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.
The New York Daily News reported at the time that roughly 5,000 people ultimately attended the march. In September, The Daily Beast reported on Russian attempts to organize pro-Trump rallies during last year's election, and on Monday The Wall Street Journal reported that Russia-linked Facebook accounts helped organize events around fatal shootings of unarmed black men by police officers.
On Wednesday, House Democrats released a trove of data, metadata, Facebook ads, and Twitter accounts run by Russia-linked troll farms. Read more about the incendiary Russia-linked ads at The Daily Beast.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.
-
'Arise, Sir Goldenballs': David Beckham plays the long game in quest for knighthood
Talking Point Former footballer set to be knighted in King's birthday honours after years of snubs
-
Quiz of The Week: 31 May – 6 June
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
The Week Unwrapped: How did Japan become a space superpower?
Podcast Plus, why on earth are Labubu dolls so popular? Will buy-now-pay-later cause a new financial crisis?
-
Trump hits Africa, Middle East with new travel ban
Speed Read The travel ban bars visitors from 12 countries and restricts entry from seven
-
Elon Musk slams Trump's 'pork-filled' signature bill
speed read 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong,' Musk posted on X
-
Depleted FEMA struggling as hurricane season begins
speed read FEMA has lost a third of its workforce amid DOGE cuts enforced by President Donald Trump
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA report
speed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign students
speed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students
-
Trump's trade war whipsawed by court rulings
Speed Read A series of court rulings over Trump's tariffs renders the future of US trade policy uncertain
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court
speed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge