ATLANTA — The elaborate Russian interference in America, and its elections and issues and public debates, apparently didn't limit itself to the national stage.
Last month, nearly a dozen Russian nationals with the so-called "Internet Research Agency" were indicted by the U.S. Justice Department for secretly using social media in a dis-information campaign to stir up trouble in the U.S. any way the could. (Read the full indictment here.)
Now, reportedly, Russians connected to that same group inserted themselves into an event here, at Stone Mountain, nearly two years ago. At that time in April 2016, a group showed up at the Georgia park to rally to defend Confederate memorials. Counter-protesters showed up to make their voices heard. In all, nine protesters were arrested after failing to comply with park ordinances.
But The Daily Beast reports that it uncovered evidence the Russians were secretly part of it. The news outlet found the Russians' organization, The Internet Research Agency, heard about the event in advance and went to work online, posing as Americans and urging people to show up at the rally and confront those waving Confederate flags. The websites and social media accounts used by the Russians to provoke confrontation that day have long since disappeared.
After the indictments by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein outlined how the Russians used social media to insert themselves into the national political sphere.
“For example, the defendants organized one rally to support the President-elect, and another rally to oppose him, both in New York on the same day,” Rosenstein announced during a news conference about the indictments.
The indictment does not specifically accuse the Russians of meddling in the Stone Mountain rally, but the Daily Beast found evidence that the rally was part of that on-going campaign to use fake social media accounts to divide Americans any way they can.
