Editing CounterPunch (section)

===The “Alice Donovan affair”===
{{redirect|Alice Donovan|the American actress|Alice Dougan Donovan}}
During the 2016 presidential election, ''CounterPunch'' published a piece attributed to Alice Donovan,<ref name="GoAskAlice"/> who purported to be a freelance writer but US intelligence officials alleged to be a pseudonymous employee of the Russian government.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/kremlin-trolls-burned-across-the-internet-as-washington-debated-options/2017/12/23/e7b9dc92-e403-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html|title=Kremlin trolls burned across the Internet as Washington debated options|last1=Entous|first1=Adam|date=December 25, 2017|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=December 25, 2017|last2=Nakashima|first2=Ellen|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|last3=Jaffe|first3=Greg}}</ref> Donovan was tracked by the [[FBI]] for nine months, as a suspected fictitious persona created by the [[GRU (Russian Federation)|GRU]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="DiResta 2020">{{cite web | last=DiResta | first=Renée | title=The Supply of Disinformation Will Soon Be Infinite | website=The Atlantic | date=September 20, 2020 | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/future-propaganda-will-be-computer-generated/616400/ | access-date=September 21, 2021}}</ref>  In late November 2017, after ''CounterPunch'' had published several more pieces by Donovan, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' contacted Jeffrey St. Clair about her. The co-editor said that Donovan's pitches did not stand out among the pitches that ''CounterPunch'' received daily<ref name=":0" /> and began making inquiries. St. Clair asked Donovan to substantiate her identity by sending a photo of her driver’s license but she did not.<ref name=":0" /> 

On the same day ''The Washington Post'' article about Donovan was published, St. Clair and Frank published a piece stating that ''CounterPunch'' only ran one article by Alice Donovan during the 2016 election, which was on cyber-breaches of medical databases. Donovan was also exposed by the newsletter as a serial plagiarizer.<ref name="GoAskAlice">{{cite web|url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/25/go-ask-alice-the-curious-case-of-alice-donovan-2/|title=Go Ask Alice: the Curious Case of 'Alice Donovan'|first=Jeffrey |last=St. Clair |author2= Joshua Frank|date=December 25, 2017|publisher=CounterPunch|access-date=January 6, 2018|quote=In sum, we published five stories by Donovan. One was apolitical. Four could be considered critiques of US foreign policy during the Trump administration. None mentioned Hillary Clinton, Vladimir Putin, the 2016 elections, Wikileaks or Julian Assange.}}</ref> ''CounterPunch'' removed all of the articles from their site.<ref name="OSullivan 2018">{{cite web | last=O'Sullivan | first=Donie | title=Facebook removes Syrian war page it believes is linked to Russian intel, Twitter keeps it online | website=CNNMoney | date=August 23, 2018 | url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/23/technology/facebook-twitter-syria-media-center/index.html | access-date=September 21, 2021}}</ref> 

In a January 2018 follow-up article, St. Clair and Frank exposed a network of alleged trolls that operated a site called Inside Syria Media Center, promoting a pro-[[Bashar al-Assad]] and pro-Russian view of the [[Syrian Civil War]]. St. Clair and Frank speculated that the website was connected to the same network of trolls as Alice Donovan, which was later confirmed by the [[Atlantic Council]] and other researchers.<ref name="DiResta 2020"/><ref name="OSullivan 2018"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/01/05/ghosts-in-the-propaganda-machine/|title=Ghosts in the Propaganda Machine|first=Jeffrey |last=St. Clair |author2= Joshua Frank|date=January 5, 2018|publisher=CounterPunch|access-date=January 6, 2018}}</ref>

[[Timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections#June 2016|On 8 June 2016]], "Alice Donovan",<ref name="A-D-kremlin-troll">
*{{cite magazine |last1=Entous |first1=Adam |title=The Rise and Fall of a Kremlin Troll |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-rise-and-fall-of-a-kremlin-troll |access-date=11 October 2023 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=19 July 2018}}
*{{cite web |last1=Toler |first1=Aric |title=Details on Newly Uncovered GRU Online Personas |url=https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2017/12/26/details-newly-uncovered-gru-online-personas/ |website=bellingcat |access-date=11 October 2023 |date=26 December 2017}}
*{{cite web |title=Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 presidential election |url=https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/download |website=Department of Justice |access-date=11 October 2023 |date=March 7, 2019}}
*{{cite web |title=GRU and the Minions |url=https://public-assets.graphika.com/reports/graphika_report_gru_minions.pdf |website=Graphika |access-date=11 October 2023 |date=September 23, 2020 |quote=The GRU ultimately used the Alice Donovan account to create its DCLeaks Facebook page, according to a U.S. indictment of GRU operators.}}
*{{cite web |last1=Frank |first1=Joshua |title=Alice Donovan, Russiagate and the Rabbit Hole of Sanctimony |url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/07/27/alice-donovan-russiagate-and-the-rabbit-hole-of-sanctimony/ |website=CounterPunch.org |access-date=11 October 2023 |date=27 July 2018}}
*{{cite news |title=How an American who lost his job due to COVID-19 got roped into an apparent Russian plot to meddle in American life |url=https://whdh.com/news/how-an-american-who-lost-his-job-due-to-covid-19-got-roped-into-an-apparent-russian-plot-to-meddle-in-american-life/ |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=WHDH 7 News |agency=CNN |date=4 September 2020 |location=Boston}}
*{{cite news |last1=Poulsen |first1=Kevin |title=Alleged Russian Operatives Spreading Fake News Sneak Back Onto Facebook |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/alleged-russian-operatives-spreading-fake-news-sneak-back-onto-facebook |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=The Daily Beast |date=5 September 2018 |language=en}}
*{{cite news |last1=Entous |first1=Adam |last2=Nakashima |first2=Ellen |last3=Jaffe |first3=Greg |title=Kremlin trolls burned across the Internet as Washington debated options |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/kremlin-trolls-burned-across-the-internet-as-washington-debated-options/2017/12/23/e7b9dc92-e403-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html |access-date=11 October 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=9 April 2023}}
*{{cite web |last1=St Clair |first1=Jeffrey |last2=Frank |first2=Joshua |title=Go Ask Alice: the Curious Case of "Alice Donovan" |url=https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/25/go-ask-alice-the-curious-case-of-alice-donovan-2/ |website=CounterPunch.org |access-date=11 October 2023 |date=25 December 2017}}
*{{cite news |last1=Thielman |first1=Sam |title=TL;DR: From Russia, with love |url=https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/tldr-from-russia-with-love.php |date=July 19, 2018 |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=Columbia Journalism Review |language=en}}
</ref> and other Russian-controlled fake American personas began promoting the [[DCLeaks]] website on [[Facebook]].<ref name=FakeAmericaneNYT-20170907>
*{{Cite web |title=The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/us/politics/russia-facebook-twitter-election.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170907170230/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/us/politics/russia-facebook-twitter-election.html |archive-date=2017-09-07 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 7, 2017 |access-date=September 20, 2020 |last=Shane |first=Scott |author-link=Scott Shane}}
*{{cite news |last1=Shane |first1=Scott |title=The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/us/politics/russia-facebook-twitter-election.html |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=7 September 2017}}
</ref><ref name=TimlineHowRussianAgentsNYT20180713>{{cite news|title=Timeline: How Russian agents allegedly hacked the DNC and Clinton's campaign|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/07/13/timeline-how-russian-agents-allegedly-hacked-the-dnc-and-clintons-campaign |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=July 13, 2018|access-date=July 15, 2018|last=Bump|first=Philip}}</ref>