Russian bots tried to influence UK general election: Report
London, April 29: Russian Twitter bots attempted to influence the 2017 UK general election results by promoting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, according to an investigation by The Sunday Times.
Conducted in conjunction with Swansea University, the research discovered that in the run up to the election, 6,500 Russian Twitter accounts, many of which are run by Internet robots known as "bots", supported the Labour Party.
It has been claimed that most of these accounts, which tried to denigrate the Conservative rivals, were created just weeks before the polling day.
The Labour Party denied any wrongdoing and said that its "people-powered election campaign" was the reason for its success.
"The Labour Party's people-powered election campaign attracted huge levels of public support online. We were not aware of any from automated bots, categorically did not pay for any and are not aware of any of our supporters doing so," a Labour Party spokesperson was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
The election saw Corbyn's Labour Party increase its tally by 31 seats. Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a major setback and lost her parliamentary majority in the election.
Urging Twitter to act to prevent such interference in the country's election in the future, UK's digital and culture secretary Matthew Hancock said the revelations are "extremely concerning".
"It is absolutely unacceptable for any nation to attempt to interfere in the democratic elections of another country," he told The Sunday Times.
"The social media companies need to act to safeguard our democratic discourse and reveal what they know," Hancock said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
BJP files police complaint alleging Kanhaiya Kumar 'abused' PM, RSS
Patna, Apr 13 (PTI): The BJP on Sunday filed a police complaint against Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar in Patna, alleging that he used abusive language against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS during a recent TV interview.
A delegation led by the BJP's media in-charge in Bihar, Danish Iqbal, visited the Kotwali police station and filed the complaint.
Iqbal urged the police to register an FIR against Kumar over the comments.
"Kanhaiya Kumar, who is a part of the 'tukde tukde gang', used abusive language against PM Modi, and the RSS and its ideologies in an interview to a TV channel on April 11. The language that he used in the interview is highly objectionable and unacceptable," Iqbal said.
"We have filed a complaint against him with the police seeking immediate registration of an FIR. We are quite confident that police will take appropriate action," he said.
