Moreover, the dashboard aggregated the domains most “linked-to” by monitored accounts. While those domains included some right-leaning American media outlets, the domains were almost exclusively Russian state media, Russian-linked, or overtly pro-Kremlin in tweets related to foreign policy issues. The below chart shows the most cited domains in tweets mentioning Syria and Ukraine during the first year of Hamilton 68’s existence. In both cases, RT was the most linked-to domain. The list also includes sites like Stalker Zone, a blog run by a pro-Russian separatist in Eastern Ukraine.
We also clarified this point in the follow-up post about the dashboard’s methodology:
Importantly, the dashboard also does not analyze the spread of a hashtag across the entire Twitter platform; it only tracks the frequency of a hashtag’s use by accounts monitored on the dashboard. As mentioned, these accounts are a sample of one network of Twitter accounts noted for their promotion of pro-Kremlin narratives. Data from the dashboard should therefore not be viewed as representative sample of all Russian-linked accounts online. This means that the preponderance of themes on the dashboard that appear to be aimed at Americans on the right or far-right of the political spectrum should not necessarily be viewed as evidence that the Kremlin has disproportionately targeted that segment of the population. Rather, it simply serves as evidence of the network’s attempts to amplify and exploit themes that resonate with a specific audience of Americans.
