U.S. to Accuse Russia of Using Its State Media to Influence 2024 Election

> The Justice Department and the F.B.I. have also been investigating a handful of Americans accused of knowingly spreading false Kremlin narratives. But officials have emphasized that they are not aiming to curb free speech. Americans who merely repeat or spread stories they see on Russian state media are not being investigated as part of the efforts, officials said.

Here's the exact thing. If I, as an American citizen, want to spread misinformation about an election on the internet, as far as I am aware, this is my absolute right, and not a crime. The only reason Russia has been so effective at this is because they're using our own networks against us - the right people to "investigate" here are not american citizens, but the mega corporations that give a platform to foreign influence campaigns. The funny thing is, a lot of the time the Russian "misinformation" is just parroting stuff straight from the Trump campaign. We call it "misinformation" when it's a foreign government, but if a politician does it, it's "campaigning."

I am absolutely not arguing in favor of propaganda and misinformation, but I do take quite a bit of umbrage at American citizens being "investigated" for repeating Kremlin narratives, which don't really differ too far from Trump campaign narratives these days.

edit: the americans investigated here appeared on russian television networks. Probably a bit more than what I am talking about, but I hate the idea of this on its face.

Sorry but I am far more skeptical of domestic government agencies making vague claims of interference than I am of ideas being exchanged out in the open. We saw how wrong agencies were on prior accusations of Russian interference and on issues like the lab leak theory. This new effort looks like a way to block access to RT. But then why stop there. What about NPR or BBC or Al Jazeera? These are all state funded news media with influence on our elections. It’s arbitrary suppression of speech and press, nothing more.

Not to mention, interference in speech that helps one candidate - as the article indicates - is direct interference in our political process.

> Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on Wednesday announced actions by the Justice Department, including the indictment of two Russian employees of RT, the state-owned broadcaster, who used a company in Tennessee to spread content, and the takedown of a Russian malign influence campaign known as Doppelganger.

> “The American people are entitled to know when a foreign power engages in political activities or seeks to influence public discourse,” Mr. Garland said.

Are they entitled to know that? Why does it matter when a foreign power is involved? Domestic powers interfere in public discourse to a much greater extent - for example tech companies through their vast moderation and censorship schemes, and compliance with the Biden administration’s unconstitutional demands for censorship of speech. Their corruption of elections - for example on controversial topics like BLM or Hunter Biden or COVID - is far worse.

> The actions include sanctions, indictments and seizing of web domains that U.S. officials say the Kremlin uses to spread propaganda and disinformation about Ukraine, which Russia invaded more than two years ago.

There is just as much propaganda and disinformation from the EU and America on this issue. How many of these countries or their news media acknowledge the illegal and unconstitutional coup in Ukraine in 2014, which ousted a pro Russia democratically elected president through force? If you even mention this on places like Reddit you’ll get banned. But the only way to properly evaluate a complex issue like this is to be able to hear all sides. Which is why RT and other sources should be available and not attacked in this way.