Countering Foreign Disinformation on Social Media

Countering Foreign Disinformation on Social Media

Countering Foreign Disinformation on Social Media | National Review

Excerpt: One fact that’s been overlooked in much of the public discussion over Russian efforts on Facebook is that, while 44 percent of total ad impressions (number of times ads were displayed) were posted before the U.S. election on November 8, 2016, the other 56 percent came after the election. Roughly 25 percent of the ads were never shown to anyone because Facebook’s algorithm didn’t deem them relevant to any users. Some of the ads that ran after the election were designed to stir up opposition to Trump. During the election, Russian efforts aimed to promote Trump over Hillary Clinton, but the ultimate goal of the Russians was not merely a Trump presidency; it was to have American society as divided and angry as possible. The more divided we are, the less likely we are to effectively stand up to them when they do something we oppose. (...) The IRA [Russians–RP] had no interest in giving you a sense that a problem can be fixed; it was all about making you angrier. They want you to feel helpless. They want you to feel ignored and to conclude that the traditional methods of democracy — speaking to your representatives, litigating through the courts, following the ethics and principles of your Constitution — have failed and that the only way to fix it is to get angrier, often at your own countrymen.  (This is from a speech in Austria about the ways in which foreign governments tried to influence our 2016 election. The author, Jim Geraghty, is well connected and frequently speaks on NPR as well as in conservative media. I notice this exactly reflects what I thought and said to someone –I can't remember who –by phone in the Fall of 2016. The Russians didn’t really care who won, they cared that we were at war with each other. It looks to me like it worked.  Ron P.)