Black Lives Matter has dominated social justice networks in the United States for nearly four years and has gained a large following of minority groups who often use violence to ensure their voices are heard.
Social media ads and campaign messages are no new concepts for the group that originated on social media, but one ad campaign has caught the attention of United States officials.
Though the Black Lives Matter movement is backed by some leftists in the United States government, the social justice campaign may have just gained the attention of another country–and one whose involvement in the United States is of hot debate right now.
An ad campaign focused in the towns of Ferguson and Baltimore was revealed to have been funded by a Russian group.
The ad was released on Facebook and was meant to be sympathetic to the minority groups in those cities.
The Daily Caller reported:
The Black Lives Matter ad placed on Facebook towards the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, was made to seem sympathetic with the movement, sources familiar with the ads told CNN, adding that the ad could also have been seen as portraying the movement as harmful to residents in those cities.
Both cities witnessed massive protests from Black Lives Matter after police officers fatally shot black men.
Facebook was forced to hand over approximately 3,000 ads after the company discovered that some of the ads were potentially linked to a Russian firm. Most of the ads, reportedly bought by the Internet Research Agency, focused on issues like gay rights, Black Lives Matter, the Second Amendment and the threat of immigration rather than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or President Donald Trump.
The Internet Research Agency is “a state-funded organization that blogs and tweets on behalf of the Kremlin,” according to U.S. military intelligence.
“There is evidence that some of the accounts are linked to a troll farm in St. Petersburg, referred to as the Internet Research Agency, though we have no way to independently confirm,” a Facebook official previously said to The Washington Post. “Our data policy and federal law limit our ability to share user data and content, so we won’t be releasing any ads.”
Though the investigation into the origin of the Russian-funded ad is ongoing, the continuing interference of Russia in American affairs is of great concern to government officials.
Moreover, the sympathy of this Russian group to a liberal movement may be a direct jab against President Trump–though he has not made a statement on the issue thus far.
Do you believe the release of this ad is of some concern to the United States government?
Leave us your thoughts in the comments section below.
