Racism and racial unrest are national security issues.  When the infamous Mueller report was finally released to the public in April 2019, it was clear from the very beginning:  "The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion."  But another study from the University of Oxford and Graphika clarifies how the "Russian Internet Research Agency's (IRA) activities were designed to polarize the U.S. public and interfere in elections by: campaigning for African American voters to boycott elections or follow the wrong voting procedures in 2016, and more recently for Mexican American and Hispanic voters to distrust U.S. institutions; encouraging extreme right-wing voters to be more confrontational; and spreading sensationalist, conspiratorial, and other forms of junk political news and misinformation to voters across the political spectrum."  Read the entire report here.

​

Another report, from New Knowledge, revealed, in part, the following:  "The most prolific IRA efforts on Facebook and Instagram specifically targeted Black American communities and appear to have been focused on developing Black audiences and recruiting Black Americans as assets; the IRA created an expansive cross-platform media mirage targeting the Black community, which shared and cross-promoted authentic Black media to create an immersive influence ecosystem;  the IRA exploited the trust of their Page audiences to develop human assets, at least some of whom were not aware of the role they played. This tactic was substantially more pronounced on Black-targeted accounts; the degree of integration into authentic Black community media was not replicated in the otherwise Right-leaning or otherwise Left-leaning content."  Read the entire report here.