Latest target of Russian meddling: Kids’ singing contest
MOSCOW: Russians were caught meddling in the last US presidential election and have been accused of trying to influence other ballots, including this month’s elections for the European Parliament.
Now they have been caught red-handed rigging one of their own votes: that of “The Voice Kids,” a popular TV talent show in the country.
On Thursday, Channel One, the state-owned broadcaster, said that it was cancelling the result of the show’s last season, because fan voting in the final round had been manipulated. There had been “massive automated SMS spamming” in favour of one contestant, Group-IB, a cybersecurity firm that had been commissioned to investigate the results, said in its own release.
They did not name the beneficiary of the cheating, but the contest’s winner was 10-year-old Mikella Abramova, the daughter of Alsou, a pop star with over 2 million followers on Instagram[1], and Yan Abramov, a wealthy banker.
Mikella won the final April 26 easily, with 145,451votes. Erzhan Maksim, a boy from Kazakhstan[2] who finished second, received 64,835 votes.
The difference was so wide, Channel One launched an investigation the next day. “Whether this is a consequence of the sincere reaction of the audience or for other reasons — we have to find out,” said Konstantin Ernst[3], the channel’s CEO, in a statement at the time. “We cannot allow a shadow to be cast on the honesty of ‘The Voice.’”
Group-IB’s investigation revealed that over 8,000 text message votes were made by 300 phone numbers that accidentally included a piece of code showing they came from an automated system. Over 30,000 telephone votes also came from automated systems.
A full report on the investigation is not due until the end of the month, but the findings prompted Channel 1 to announce that it was annulling the results, saying the investigation had confirmed there was “an outside influence” that had affected the outcome.
from Europe News Headlines, Latest Europe News and Live Updates - Times of India http://bit.ly/2HEkoCu
Now they have been caught red-handed rigging one of their own votes: that of “The Voice Kids,” a popular TV talent show in the country.
On Thursday, Channel One, the state-owned broadcaster, said that it was cancelling the result of the show’s last season, because fan voting in the final round had been manipulated. There had been “massive automated SMS spamming” in favour of one contestant, Group-IB, a cybersecurity firm that had been commissioned to investigate the results, said in its own release.
They did not name the beneficiary of the cheating, but the contest’s winner was 10-year-old Mikella Abramova, the daughter of Alsou, a pop star with over 2 million followers on Instagram[1], and Yan Abramov, a wealthy banker.
Mikella won the final April 26 easily, with 145,451votes. Erzhan Maksim, a boy from Kazakhstan[2] who finished second, received 64,835 votes.
The difference was so wide, Channel One launched an investigation the next day. “Whether this is a consequence of the sincere reaction of the audience or for other reasons — we have to find out,” said Konstantin Ernst[3], the channel’s CEO, in a statement at the time. “We cannot allow a shadow to be cast on the honesty of ‘The Voice.’”
Group-IB’s investigation revealed that over 8,000 text message votes were made by 300 phone numbers that accidentally included a piece of code showing they came from an automated system. Over 30,000 telephone votes also came from automated systems.
A full report on the investigation is not due until the end of the month, but the findings prompted Channel 1 to announce that it was annulling the results, saying the investigation had confirmed there was “an outside influence” that had affected the outcome.
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References
- ^ Instagram (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ Kazakhstan (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ Konstantin Ernst (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ 2019 Lok Sabha elections (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
- ^ election results (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
from Europe News Headlines, Latest Europe News and Live Updates - Times of India http://bit.ly/2HEkoCu
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