- Sources say dozens of agents and analysts huddled at a command center
- Cyber and counterintelligence analysts and investigators watched social media
begin quote from:
FBI tracked fake news on Election Day
Conway: Probe not about Russian interference
Exclusive: FBI tracked 'fake news' believed to be from Russia on Election Day
Story highlights
Washington (CNN)The
FBI monitored social media on Election Day last year in an effort to
track a suspected Russian disinformation campaign utilizing "fake news,"
CNN has learned.
In
the months leading up to Election Day, Twitter and Facebook were the
feeding grounds for viral "news" stories floating conspiracies and
hoaxes, many aimed at spreading negative false claims about Hillary
Clinton.
On Election Day,
dozens of agents and analysts huddled at a command center arrayed with
large monitoring screens at the FBI headquarters in Washington watching
for security threats, according to multiple sources.
That
included analysts monitoring cyber threats, after months of mounting
Russian intrusions targeting every part of the US political system, from
political parties to policy think-tanks to state election systems.
On this day, there was also a group of FBI cyber and counterintelligence analysts and investigators watching social media.
FBI
analysts had identified social media user accounts behind stories, some
based overseas, and the suspicion was that at least some were part of a
Russian disinformation campaign, according to two sources familiar with
the investigation.
The FBI declined to comment for this story.
For the FBI, this was uncomfortable territory, given the First Amendment's free speech protections even for fake news stories.
"We were right on the edge of Constitutional legality," a person briefed on the investigation said. "We were monitoring news."
As
the hours ticked by on Election Day, teams at the FBI, Homeland
Security Department and the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence held conference calls every three hours with a team at the
Situation Room in the White House to discuss possible problems,
according to multiple sources.
Minor issues popped up in far-flung parts of the country, from Alaska to Georgia.
At
the end of day, top officials exchanged congratulations for an election
day that was completed without disruptions of the vote.
One
Obama White House official responded to the messages of congratulations
with the opposite view, saying the US government response to the
Russian operation was "a failure of imagination."
"Are
you kidding?" that official recalled saying to others at the White
House as they celebrated a successful election. "What they did worked!"
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