How are they figuring out what to focus on ? AI ?
There's an explanation in the FAQ:
Q. How does Russian influence online work?
There are three types of accounts promoting Russian influence online:
- Attributed accounts that clearly state they are pro-Russian or affiliated with the Russian government.
- Accounts (including both bots and humans) that are run by troll factories in Russia and elsewhere.
- Accounts run by people around the world who amplify pro-Russian themes either knowingly or unknowingly, after being influenced by the efforts described above.
The accounts tracked by the dashboard include a mix of such users and is the fruit of more than
three years of observation and monitoring. We believe this sample network is representative of a specific Russian campaign targeting Americans.
An example of how we’ve previously used this monitoring system to detect Russian disinformation can be found
here.