By now you’ve heard all about how Russians tried to help Donald Trump become president of the United States. They used an array of devious tactics, including turning the technologies of major American digital media companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter against the American people. In just one example, Russians “weaponized” Facebook, in the words of one member of Congress, by buying 3,000 fake ads ahead of Election Day. Those ads used Facebook’s algorithms to target likely Trump supporters, and ad messages compared Hillary Clinton to Satan, fomented concern about insecure borders, and talked about needing to defend the Second Amendment. More than 10 million people saw these Facebook ads and others like them. None of the ads disclosed that they were paid for by Russians. When the ballot counting was done, Donald Trump had won the Electoral College by just 80,000 votes across three states.
It’s been more than a year since Trump’s win, and exactly what caused what in 2016 is still being investigated. But look broadly at where we are now. If increased division and political chaos is what Russians wanted to see in the United States, they got it.
