The David Hogg-Laura Ingraham feud has reportedly attracted the attention of Russian bots on social media.
The website Hamilton 68 reported that #IStandWithLaura, a hashtag protesting Mr. Hogg’s efforts to drive the Fox News host off the air, was the top trending hashtag Saturday night among bots and accounts linked to Russian influence operations.
According to a report Monday in the Washington Post, the website botcheck.me, which tracks 1,500 “political propaganda bots,” made a similar finding.
According to Botcheck, the top six Twitter handles used by Russia-linked accounts included @ingrahamangle, @davidhogg111 and @foxnews.
Among two-word phrases used, the two commonest were “David Hogg” and “Laura Ingraham.”
“This is pretty typical for them, to hop on breaking news like this,” Jonathon Morgan, a disinformation-campaign tracker, told the New York Times. “The bots focus on anything that is divisive for Americans. Almost systematically.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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