Subject: Morning Brief: Instagram played major role in Russian targeting of U.S. Voters
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Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2018 07:42:26 -0600 (CST)

Instagram Played Major Role in Russian Targeting of U.S. Voters

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MORNING BRIEF

Today's Global News from Foreign Policy

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12/18/2018

12/18/2018

TOP NEWS

Instagram Played Major Role in Russian Targeting of U.S. Voters

Top News: After the release of a report for the Senate Intelligence Committee from the cybersecurity firm New Knowledge, the scale and scope of Russian disinformation campaigns in the United States is now clearer. According to the report, Instagram was the platform through which Russian influence efforts gained the most traction. The report found that the Internet Research Agency, Russia’s notorious troll farm, published 116,000 posts on the social media platform, many of which sought to reach African Americans and dissuade them from voting.

U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff, the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told the Washington Post that he was “surprised,” at the centrality of Instagram to Russian trolls, adding “I think all the platforms remain keenly vulnerable, and I don’t have the confidence yet companies have invested the resources and people power necessary to deal with the scope of the problem.”

New Zealand: Voters will decide whether marijuana will be legalized in New Zealand when they go to the polls in the country’s next election in 2020. Justice Minister Andrew Little announced the referendum, which he said would be binding, a week after New Zealand relaxed its laws on the use of the drug for medical purposes. The proposed plan would make New Zealand the first country to hold a nationwide vote to determine the legal status of marijuana.

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AFRICA

•  The Nigerian military claims that soldiers were provoked into shooting and killing dozens of protesters last month, but video footage contradicts that account, showing soldiers shooting at an unarmed crowd as many turned to run.

•  Burkina Faso and France have agreed to a new military framework amid a spike in violence along Burkina Faso’s border with Mali and Niger.

•  Voters in Madagascar are preparing to go to the polls tomorrow to elect the country’s next president.

AMERICAS

•  Maria Meza, the woman who was captured in a photograph by Reuters running with her children as U.S. authorities fired teargas at them, has started the process of seeking asylum for herself and her family in the United States, alongside a group of migrants from Honduras.

•  A document filed by prosecutors provided new evidence that Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security advisor, lied to the FBI about his contact with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. at the time.

•  El Salvador freed Imelda Cortez, a woman who had been imprisoned under the country’s harsh anti-abortion laws.

ASIA

•  In a 90-minute address to his party, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that “no-one is in a position to dictate to the Chinese people.”

•  British Airways announced on Tuesday that it will resume flights to Pakistan a decade after it halted its services to the country due to security concerns.

•  The government of Malaysia is pursuing criminal charges against three units of Goldman Sachs over its alleged role in a scandal that resulted in the misappropriation of $4.5 billion.

EUROPE

•  In Hungary, four opposition lawmakers were injured at the headquarters of the state broadcaster, which they had called upon to end its support for far-right prime minister Viktor Orban.

•  Malta said it would implement reforms after a panel of external legal experts called for greater independence of the country’s judiciary, and and for the power concentrated in the role of prime minister to be limited.

•  The French Communist Party announced that it is recruiting members of the Yellow Vests movement to run as candidates in the next of election of the European Parliament in 2019.

MIDDLE EAST

•  In Yemen, clashes between Houthi rebels and government forces in Hodeidah continued until around 2:00 am, despite the U.N.-brokered ceasefire taking effect at midnight.

•  Facebook deleted posts from Yair Netanyahu—the son of Israel’s prime minister—that railed against Palestinians and called for the deaths of two Israeli soldiers to be avenged, on the grounds that they “included hate speech."

•  Amid a continuing blockade from its neighbors, Qatar marked its national day with a military parade that organizers said was three times as large as previous parades.

- By Jefcoate O'Donnell

(Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images)

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