Peace Data or PeaceData is a

fake news website Fake news websites (also referred to as hoax news websites) are websites on the Internet that deliberately publish fake news—hoaxes, propaganda, and disinformation purporting to be news, real news—often using social media to drive web traffic ...

run by the

Internet Research Agency The Internet Research Agency (IRA; ; 2013-2023), also known as ''Glavset'' (, ), and known in Russian Internet slang as the Trolls from Olgino () or Kremlinbots (), was a Russian company which was engaged in online propaganda and influence ...

, a Russian outlet connected to the country's government, which publishes in English and Arabic.

History

Part of its object was to interfere in the 2020 United States elections with the intention of helping

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

to be re-elected by defeating the Democratic candidate

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

and his running mate

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

. The aim was to reduce support for the Biden-Harris ticket among liberal voters. According to Graphika, a social media analytics firm, only about 5 percent of the website's English-language content concerned the American elections, but "this facet of the operation suggests an attempt to build a left-wing audience and steer it away from Biden's campaign". It also targeted left-wing voters in the UK, and featured articles about Algeria, Egypt and Turkey. The website hired unsuspecting journalists in the United States as well as inventing false personas with computer created avatars. These fake identities included the three permanent staff members listed on the website, according to Graphika. On September 1, 2020,

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

announced they had been warned by the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

about the

disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...

effort and said they had removed or suspended accounts associated with it. ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

'' website reported that the operation tried and failed to place content with ''Jacobin'', ''

In These Times In These Times may refer to: *In These Times (magazine), ''In These Times'' (magazine), an American monthly magazine of news and opinion *In These Times (Peter, Paul, and Mary album), ''In These Times'' (Peter, Paul, and Mary album), a 2004 album b ...

'' and

Truthout Truthout is an American Nonprofit organization, non-profit Progressivism in the United States, progressive news organization which describes itself as "dedicated to providing independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social just ...

References

{{reflist Fake news websites Russian news websites

History

See also

References