Popular Twitter Personality and "American Blogger" Exposed As Russian Trolls

Those of you who tweet frequently, particularly about politics, have probably come across "her" viral tweets. In fact, even if you've never logged into Twitter, there's a good chance you've seen one of "her" tweets in the media. As The Daily Beast reports:

Abrams, who at one point boasted nearly 70,000 Twitter followers, was featured in articles written by Bustle, U.S. News and World Report, USA Today, several local Fox affiliates, InfoWars, BET, Yahoo Sports, Sky News, IJR, Breitbart, The Washington Post, Mashable, New York Daily News, Quartz, Dallas News, France24, HuffPost, The Daily Caller, The Telegraph, CNN, the BBC, Gizmodo, The Independent, The Daily Dot, The Observer, Business Insider, The National Post, Refinery29, The Times of India, BuzzFeed, The Daily Mail, The New York Times, and, of course, Russia Today and Sputnik.

As it turns out, "Jenna Abrams" wasn't an American girl blogging at Medium at all — she was a collection of Russian trolls working out of the Internet Research Agency, the now infamous troll farm in St. Petersburg.

Perhaps the most interesting and worrisome aspect of this story is that "Jenna Abrams" wasn't some persona thrown together for the election as one might assume of a Russian fake user. Like a virtual deep cover mole, "she'd" been around for years and "her" beginnings had little to nothing to do with politics.

While the the typical image of a Russian troll may be a hastily put together Twitter account blaring out non-stop political messages, Abrams’ account went to great lengths to simulate a real, American person who existed outside of Twitter fights and amplifying racist disinformation.

Her Twitter account was created back in 2014. She had a personal website, a Medium page, her own Gmail, and even a GoFundMe page.

Many of these stories had nothing to do with Russia—or politics at all. Instead, stretching back to 2014, Abrams’ account built up an image of a straight-talking, no-nonsense, viral-tweet-writing young American woman. She was featured in articles as diverse as “the 15 funniest tweets this week” to “#FeministAMovie Proves Why Twitter Can’t Have Nice Things.” Then, once she built her following, she would push divisive views on immigration, segregation, and Donald Trump, especially as the 2016 election loomed.

I had encountered "Jenna Abrams's" tweets on a number of occasions. I thought "her" profile photo was a bit suspect — it looked a bit too stock photo of "sexy nerd in glasses." The lack of other photos made me wonder. I reversed image searched and came up with no hits. And while I initially suspected that maybe "she" was not who "she" appeared to be, when I saw how long "she'd" been tweeting, saw "her" feuding with celebrities and saw her blogging on Medium, I'll admit — there was so much substance that I was fooled.

At least I wasn't alone, among the many mentioned in the article:

Even Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia and an expert in Russian propaganda, got into a number of Twitter spats with Abrams. McFaul responded to Abrams’ posts in 10 separate months between February of 2015 and August of 2016.

Mama!

And I cant even break 100 Flags for a piece I spent 10 intent dedicated weeks on. Maybe I just need to get a fake hot chick selfie and post annoying "blurb" tweets from now on. I know Russia has some smokin thoroughbred hotties, maybe prospect a Russian mail order wives website for candidates.....

a reply to: theantediluvian

Honest question, what does it matter where "she "was from?

If she was a collection of trolls from kansas, would that be better?

And second question, we now have proof that Twitter was offering rt more space, and hiding tweets about wikileaks that made Hillary look bad.

Isn't this far more serious?

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

There's a number of similar accounts that I'm sure will turn out to be trolls. Super attractive female profile pic, tens of thousands of followers, not adding anything new to any conversation but getting liked/retweed to the top of any trending topic.

Which just goes to show how easily manipulated our gender is by a pretty face.

Ever play online poker? The sites I used to play on that allowed uploading a profile pic would be jammed up with obvious fakes but it'd never fail that some idiot was trying to chat them up in player chat.

a reply to: theantediluvian

so you almost believed crap on social media?

hmm thought you were brighter than that...

If you are afraid of Twitter then don't read it.

I don't have a Twitter so I don't have to worry about being brainwashed by 'evil' Russians. ATS has more than enough well-vetted information for all of us.

originally posted by: shooterbrody
a reply to: theantediluvian

so you almost believed crap on social media?

hmm thought you were brighter than that...

Do you have any evidence of this or are you just making it up?

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

There's a number of similar accounts that I'm sure will turn out to be trolls. Super attractive female profile pic, tens of thousands of followers, not adding anything new to any conversation but getting liked/retweed to the top of any trending topic.

Which just goes to show how easily manipulated our gender is by a pretty face.

That's the Story of the Internet ever (since before even Myspace probably).

Which is why I'm scared to death of what the men of earth will become if Ivanka becomes POTUS. We're just not evolved enough for such a creature to be in charge and not become the ultimate anti-objective embarrassment of the ages.

a reply to: Metallicus

just my opinion

youtu.be...

bomb jour

I love how this is being downplayed with comments like, "Well yeah...I never use Twitter..." or "Your a moron if you listen to stuff on social media..."

All the while, the same people likely were influenced indirectly and cheered others who shared the tweets and news articles by these trolls.

It's easy in retrospect to sit back and feign being indignant...

a reply to: theantediluvian

Let's cut to the chase.

The Right Wing fell for one of the best, most intelligent fake news propaganda campaigns we have seen in some time.

In response, they complain about fake news and throw it in our faces at every opportunity.

a reply to: Kettu

If it were Soros trolls then it'd be better? A non-story?

Well guess what half the people that identify as "liberals" these days are and unwittingly so what's worse??

What liberalism even is has been completely redefined by Soros analog social engineers, and nobody even cares about that.

But a curiosity at best here that's the Big Story of modern affairs, right?

originally posted by: Metallicus
If you are afraid of Twitter then don't read it.

I don't have a Twitter so I don't have to worry about being brainwashed by 'evil' Russians. ATS has more than enough well-vetted information for all of us.

Hardly.

ATS is a pit of disinfo and propaganda.

People on this site are more misinformed than any other group of people I have encountered.

originally posted by: introvert
a reply to: theantediluvian

Let's cut to the chase.

The Right Wing fell for one of the best, most intelligent fake news propaganda campaigns we have seen in some time.

In response, they complain about fake news and throw it in our faces at every opportunity.

Funny, I didn't see you chastising the left wing on the thread yesterday showing thousands of people showed up to a rally against trump organized by Russian trolls.

I wonder why that is....

originally posted by: introvert

originally posted by: Metallicus
If you are afraid of Twitter then don't read it.

I don't have a Twitter so I don't have to worry about being brainwashed by 'evil' Russians. ATS has more than enough well-vetted information for all of us.

Hardly.

ATS is a pit of disinfo and propaganda.

People on this site are more misinformed than any other group of people I have encountered.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

a reply to: introvert

hahahaha

hillary and trump spent a combined 81 million on facebook ads

how much did "russia" spend again?

bs lame ass hillary lost excuse

originally posted by: introvert
a reply to: theantediluvian

Let's cut to the chase.

The Right Wing fell for one of the best, most intelligent fake news propaganda campaigns we have seen in some time.

The whole "Right Wing" thing right??

All of them?

100% of them all Right Wing if they liked her Trump comments, right??

a reply to: Grambler

Honest question, what does it matter where "she "was from?

If she was a collection of trolls from kansas, would that be better?

Where "she" was from does matter because of what "she" what was tweeting but honestly, popular fake users from anywhere concern me.

What really blows my mind is how social media posts embedded in stories by online media (or even used by televised media) are being used. This is something that really only started in the last couple of years but it's become quite popular for outlets to run stories show how what are presumed to be real people are reacting to *something*.

In that instance, it's a lot like having reporters interview paid shills on TV or something.

So to me it's always bad, being agents of a foreign government makes it just that much worse.

And second question, we now have proof that Twitter was offering rt more space, and hiding tweets about wikileaks that made Hillary look bad.

Isn't this far more serious?

I'm not sure what you're talking about specifically but yes, social media sites manipulating their own platforms to suppress/promote agendas is manipulation of people's perceptions.

Do I have to choose which is more serious?

originally posted by: introvert

originally posted by: Metallicus
If you are afraid of Twitter then don't read it.

I don't have a Twitter so I don't have to worry about being brainwashed by 'evil' Russians. ATS has more than enough well-vetted information for all of us.

Hardly.

ATS is a pit of disinfo and propaganda.

People on this site are more misinformed than any other group of people I have encountered.

No doubt, ever since Two Party System paid "people" took the place over this decade.

The funny thing is all the outsiders trying to keep everyone honest, if they dont align with your Establishment Viewpoints, well those people are part of the 'deluded' you're talking about, right??

a reply to: Grambler

Funny, I didn't see you chastising the left wing on the thread yesterday showing thousands of people showed up to a rally against trump organized by Russian trolls.

Did not see that thread. A link would be nice, if you would.

Still, I don't see how that refutes what I said.

I wonder why that is....

ATS sucks these days. I try to do better things with my time.