Researchers paid three Russian companies to buy 337,768 fake likes, views and shares of posts on social media including content from verified accounts of Senators Chuck Grassley, seen here in Washington DC on Oct 12, and Chris Murphy. Both senators consented to participate. — Erin Schaff/The New York Times/Pool/AP
BRUSSELS: The conversation taking place on the verified social media accounts of two US senators remained vulnerable to manipulation, even amid heightened scrutiny in the run up to the US presidential election, an investigation by the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence found.
Researchers from the centre, a NATO-accredited research group based in Riga, Latvia, paid three Russian companies €300 (RM1,479.87) to buy 337,768 fake likes, views and shares of posts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok, including content from verified accounts of Senators Chuck Grassley and Chris Murphy.
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