From Put B with thanks
After all the attention the Mueller report got among our neighbors at Skyline, it seems like that some of them would be interested in this report from the Senate. It systematically demonstrates a sophisticated effort by Russians to influence the outcome of the election in favor of Donald Trump and, not incidentally, to sow confusion, doubt, and cynicism among Americans. Knowledge of the techniques should make us less vulnerable to being misled. As the report itself notes, one of the goals of the Russian operation is simply to undermine our confidence in what we hear and believe.
“The public needs to be made aware of the tactics being directed at them, but there also needs to be appreciation for the limitations of those tactics. As Massimo Calabresi reports in his 2017 Time article on Russia’s social media war on America, :’the fear of Russian influence operations can be more damaging than the operations themselves. Eager to appear more powerful than they are, the Russians would consider it a success if you questioned the truth of your news sources, knowing that Moscow might be lurking in your Facebook or Twitter feed.’”
Ed note: I’d also suggest watching the Netflix documentary called The Great Hack about the activities of Cambridge Analytica.