According to the main-stream media and federal prosecutors, discussing certain topics in social media could lead to being charged with a crime such as defrauding the United States by interfering in upcoming elections, sowing discord and divisiveness.
- The Guardian (US Edition) 10/18/2018: US charges Russian woman with interfering in 2018 midterms.
- Russian's literally only shared and promoted propaganda created by domestic U.S. Sources.
- NBC News: 10/19/2018: Russian woman charged with attempted meddling in upcoming U.S. midterms.
- To sow discord and divisiveness, the Russians used the following topics to "create and amplify divisive social media and political content."
- Gun Control
- Gay Rights
- Kneeling during the National Anthem
- The Women's March
- The Las Vegas Shooting
- The Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
- The Washington Post: 10/19/2018: Justice Dept. charges Russian woman with interference in midterm elections.
- "The group attempted to sow conflict along racial lines and sometimes advocated positions that directly opposed each other, apparently agnostic to whom they supported as long as it turned Americans against one another, prosecutors said."
- CNN Politics: 10/19/2018: Russian national charged with attempting to interfere in 2018 midterms.
- Mentioned the following incidents:
- The shootings of church members in Charleston, South Carolina
- Concert attendees in Las Vegas, Nevada
- Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally, which left one counterprotester dead
- Police shootings of African-American men
- The video mentions that the federal government set aside only $380,000,000.00 to protect the election process.
This sets a new precedence for prosecuting social activists. Can these important issues ever be addressed again without fear of persecution? The whole point of protesting is to rally support for one's cause. Once it was the case that who has the most people show up wins. Now who ever shows up gets surveilled, photographed, documented then persecuted.
