Angela Rye warns Black communities are being manipulated by online disinformation

The political commentator discusses how bot farms spread online disinformation and how her new YouTube series, “Cite Your Source,” encourages informed conversations.

Angela Rye is warning that online disinformation campaigns are fueling divisions within Black communities by exploiting racial tensions and personal trauma.

During an interview with TheGrio’s Natasha S. Alford, the political commentator discussed how fake online profiles and bot farms have been used to inflame disagreements over systemic issues affecting Black Americans.

“What we saw around the 2016 election—as you probably recall—is there was a conversation that was percolating online or several conversations that were percolating online, and Russian intelligence saw places where they could sow seeds of discord within our communities and in other communities, whether it was immigration, whether it was reparations, whether it was affirmative action, whether it was police brutality, whether it was Black Lives Matter,” Rye said.

She explained that these campaigns used accounts designed to look like real people, even when bots controlled the profiles.

“These folks have used mis- and disinformation, created Blackface, electronic Blackface online, and created whole profiles of people when it was actually a bot on a bot farm,” Rye said.

Political groups and other entities have since used bot farms to influence online conversations.

Rye pointed to a discussion on her weekly YouTube series, “Cite Your Source,” which premiered Oct. 7 and focuses on politics, race and Black culture. The show brings together people with differing viewpoints and features an on-set fact-checker who uses a buzzer to challenge claims. During the Oct. 14 episode, guest Devine Prince, president and founding member of the United States Freedmen Project, noted that Democrats, Republicans, artists and other entities have also used bot farms to shape online discourse.

Rye said using these automated networks exploits people’s emotions and personal experiences rather than encouraging them to question what they see online.

“It’s like, let me get in here and speak to the emotions of what you might feel in your pain, the trauma. I’m gonna speak to your trauma. And it’s manipulative,” she said.

When asked how she maintains her peace amid the constant discord, Rye acknowledged that it can be difficult.

“I’m not protecting my peace. I just try to take pockets,” she said.

People close to Rye sometimes remind her that not every online argument deserves a response. Still, stepping away from the comments can be difficult because she built her media career as a “community darling.”

The creation of “Cite Your Source” was also a response to a media environment Rye believes prioritizes conflict over informing the public.

“We used to go to the news to watch content that would inform us, help us understand what’s going on. And now when you watch news, you’re watching people engage in fights, ad hominem attacks that really don’t have anything to do with advancing education or helping us be better informed citizens and hopefully safer,” she said. “So it’s for ratings and not for information.”

Through the series, Rye hopes viewers will recognize that disagreements don’t have to prevent productive conversations and that they can fact-check claims themselves.

“I want people to go away from this feeling like, you know what? I can fact-check at home, too,” she said.

Rye also turned to the midterm elections, urging voters to act early. “I am begging you, do not wait until November 3rd. That is just too late,” she said, advising people with absentee ballots to fill them out and still take them to a precinct or local election office.

Watch the full interview below: