A private citizen received online abuse after CNN tracked her down and publicly shamed her for unknowingly sharing a “Russian-coordinated event” on her Facebook page.
While filming the woman, who runs a pro-Trump page on Facebook, CNN publicly shamed her for “unwittingly” promoting a “Russian-coordinated event.”
A Florida woman who ran a Trump supporters page that unwittingly promoted a Russian-coordinated event on Facebook says she doesn’t believe that she was influenced by Kremlin-linked trolls https://t.co/DmgDRFRwyn pic.twitter.com/OAz5julCyA
— CNN (@CNN) February 21, 2018
“When you’re talking like this, I don’t want anything to do with you,” complained the woman after being repeatedly harassed by CNN’s Special Investigations Unit Reporter Drew Griffin.
Following the incident, conservative commentators criticized CNN for tracking down and attempting to publicly shame private citizens.
“Stop harassing people at their homes, you psychos!” replied conservative YouTube star Mark Dice.
https://twitter.com/MarkDice/status/966149701232861185
https://twitter.com/StephenLimbaugh/status/966174471114682369
Journalist Jerry Dunleavy also pointed out that CNN were duped themselves into covering alleged “Russian-generated rallies.”
So @CNN tracked down one of the ppl unwittingly duped by the Russians — reminder that CNN itself was duped into covering Russian-generated rallies — and @DrewGriffinCNN & Co. thought it best to publicly shame this old lady. Now ppl are viciously harassing her online. A thread. 1/ https://t.co/TYcTtJwt6L
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) February 21, 2018
After CNN published her full name, the woman received waves of abuse and harassment, with CNN consumers calling her a “stupid old hag,” a “traitor,” a “treasonous hillbilly,” “ugly,” and “racist trash.”
CNN published her name — it’s so unique it’s the only one that pops up on FB. I’m not doxxing her & I won’t show her profile page, but let’s take a look at the comment section of her recent FB posts — first up a baby vid. If Russia wanted division, they got it. Nice job, @CNN. 2/ pic.twitter.com/DlndyU3Sko
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) February 21, 2018
Thanks @CNN! Check out the stream of vile “Putin!” “Russia!” “Traitor!” talk in her comments — and memes of her! — all because some Russian trolls might’ve tricked her into talking to them. Yes, people need to be less gullible. But here’s The Resistance harassing an old woman. 3/ pic.twitter.com/FWnPG9Lwu2
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) February 21, 2018
Just wonderful @CNN. Give yourselves a hand. Again — Russia wanted Americans turned against Americans? They wanted to sow chaos? They wanted to create division? Look at what a news report doxxing an old lady’s Facebook page results in. Vicious. Vile. Senseless. Uncharitable. 4/ pic.twitter.com/XFh1ffla7p
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) February 21, 2018
The woman also received violent threats, with one user warning, “stay in Florida, you come to NY and I’ll kick your Russian bot ass.”
No seriously @CNN — did you consider the possibility that in exposing an old lady supposedly being tricked by Russian trolls on Facebook dot com that you would be sending waves of ***American*** trolls to call her a traitor, attack her appearance, & threaten her with violence? 5/ pic.twitter.com/vNbSMgYVqR
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) February 21, 2018
Drew Griffin and the network have not yet confronted Michael Moore, who attended a rally allegedly organized by Russians.
In July, the cable news giant hunted down a man who posted a meme on Reddit poking fun at the network. The man publicly apologized to the network.
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington, or like his page at Facebook.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.