A pro-Russian social media campaign is trying to influence politics in Africa

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/01/ [login to see] /a-pro-russian-social-media-campaign-is-trying-to-influence-politics-in-africa
Close to a year since the invasion of Ukraine, activists aligned with Russia are pushing pro-Kremlin messages in Africa using a coordinated French-language network spanning Facebook, YouTube, Telegram and other online channels.

The network, dubbed "Russosphere," is connected to a far-right Belgian political activist who was involved in overseeing contested Russian-backed referenda in Crimea and Donbas in 2014, according to researchers at Logically, a company that tracks online misinformation and disinformation. The activist, Luc Michel, was also involved in a 2021 effort to create a breakaway "Republic of Detroit'' in the U.S., which garnered little attention but could serve as a blueprint for Russian-aligned efforts to influence American politics, Logically says.

It's the latest example of how influence campaigns connected to Russia capitalize on social and political divisions – a continuation of the tactics the Kremlin used during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. And it shows how social media remains a potent channel to spread pro-Russian messages, even as the big technology platforms have tried to crack down on manipulation and state-backed propaganda.