A pro-Hillary Super PAC has admitted spending $1 million to employ an army of trolls to “push back” against users of social networks including Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and Instagram who criticize Hillary Clinton.
Correct The Record’s “Barrier Breakers” project admitted in a press release that it pays young people to pretend to be Hillary Clinton supporters, and claims that 5,000 unsuspecting social media users have already been “addressed” by the PAC’s mercenary social media warriors – with the promise that many more will be “corrected” in the near future.
Bernie Sanders supporting Reddit users claim they have already begun to notice the work of the Clinton mercenaries.
“This explains why my inbox turned to cancer on Tuesday,” wrote user OKarizee. “Been a member of reddit for almost 4 years and never experienced anything like it. In fact, in all my years on the internet I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
Correct the Record, which has received $6.3 million this campaign season and has spent almost $6 million of it, according to OpenSecrets.org, outlined its strategy against “swarms of anonymous attackers” in a press release.
“Hillary’s supporters are more enthusiastic than Sen. Bernie Sanders’ supporters, yet oftentimes are discouraged from engaging online and are “often afraid to voice their thoughts” because of the fear of online harassment.
While Hillary Clinton fights to break down barriers and bring America together, the Barrier Breakers 2016 digital task force will serve as a resource for supporters looking for positive content and push-back to share with their online progressive communities, as well as thanking prominent supporters and committed superdelegates on social media,” the statement read.
The press release also referenced “lessons learned” from dealings with “Bernie Bros,” and promises to target Sanders supporters closer to the general election to push them to vote for Clinton.
“Lessons learned from online engagement with “Bernie Bros” during the Democratic Primary will be applied …. responding quickly and forcefully to negative attacks and false narratives. Additionally, as the general election approaches, the task force will begin to push out information to Sanders supporters online, encouraging them to support Hillary Clinton.”
How much does trolling does $6 million dollars buy you in 2016? Ask a Bernie Sanders supporter on social media – they are receiving the brunt of it.
And to think Trump gets all his trolls for free.