Twitter, Facebook and the other "social" media are making colossal amounts of money providing a platform for everyone from the brightest and most socially responsible to the stupidest and most socially reprehensible to voice their opinions. It is absolutely time that they were forced to take responsibility for the traffic that brings them such wealth, and to not plead "freedom" as an excuse for sitting back, doing nothing and letting anything go on under their banner. Next there should be some class actions brought by those harmed by their inaction and lack of auditing. That could hit them in the only place they REALLY care about, their hip pockets.
1
Social media plays a big role today because that is what people of today rely on for just about anything. We hardly think for ourselves anymore,instead follow the masses.
As a Millennial,who still picks up papers and researches headline facts rather than relying on opinions of others, nothing continues to irk me more than certain aspects of social media for instance its influence and impact,but it all reverts back us. We are just as responsible, if not more.
One thing very clear with American culture,specifically, is the need to always be first(pun intended)at anything whether it counts or not.
And in breaking news, Twitter just answered our questions in what seems like a matter of a day-disclosing their investigation findings of all account linked to RS meanwhile were months into so many investigations some that are so blatant they don't even need investigations. Perhaps you can pick up some pointers Congress!
The question is, where did the Russians get the database of who to contact? Ever wonder why his commission on voter fraud is collecting the personal information they say they need? Something tells me that if Trump and his cronies are not involved in this, they certainly will be the next election. Influence peddling via social media is Trump's expertise.
1
According to this piece, “What we see over and over again is that a lot of the messaging isn’t about politics...it’s about creating societal division, identifying divisive issues and fanning the flames.” Yet, no one on Twitter--not even the Russians--could be more guilty of creating and fanning societal divisiveness than the present occupant of the White House himself. So let's start cleaning up this social media mess, there.
4
It's worth noting how similar Trump and the Russians are in their strategy to sow dissension, and spreading (genuinely) fake news to do it.
5
What kind of person relies on anything he/she reads on Twitter? Not everything which is posted there is reliable? Not every claim made on a Facebook page is true?
Who knew? Everyone, that's who.
How is it "illicit" to post to Twitter? How does one identify a "Twitter account linked to Russian Intelligence?" Doesn't everybody (the media, the left, the right) strive to fan flames and create divisiveness in order to get readers or get votes? Isn't that the very essence of SJW/tribalism that's so popular right now?
Seems to me that the article does exactly what it is accusing the Russians of doing. It makes the normal seem abnormal, and creates a false impression that ordinary activities are wrong. For example, using Hubspot to post to multiple social channels/personas - a very common activity in every marketing agency in America - is a dark, nefarious activity if the person doing it doesn't subscribe to your group think.
Following the logic of this article, by raising these points, I am guilty of interfering with the Times, who is speaking the truth. Therefore I must be a nefarious dark force that must be stopped. Slippery Slope, isn't it?
4
Al Gore, who later studies showed actually won the 2000 election, had the class to keep silent about it so as not to damage the office of the presidency and the American constitutional form of government.
Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 election (though by a small margin) continues to be a sore loser. There is a First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which applies to all media and all writers, domestic and foreign. It is up to us to be critical readers.
I say Shut Down Twitter, which shuts down Trump, Russian and other foreign enemy ads/bots, along with our own domestic bots and ads promoting hate groups, civil discord within American democracy, violence, bigotry, misogyny, anti-Semitism, et al.
If they can't control their social network and its platform issues then maybe they should not be in business in the first place. Their network is now a weapon of cyber warfare and they either won't or can't disarm it.
1
I spent most of the summer and fall of 2016 trolling online through Politico, The Hill, Mediaite, and Twitter, mocking liberals, posting insults that inflamed arguments, and generally treating every user who said anything DNC-like with total contempt, sarcasm, ridicule, and repeated replies that wore them out. I was banned orm all four sites in the new year, but I had my fun.
I was also called a "Russian bot" over and over, because I used the same insults over and over, I responded quickly (I have wifi and it's good), and I posted A LOt (my work hours permit it during times when most others are at work, but not me). I would often plan to spend 2-3 hours trolling to cap my day, and like I said, it was fun.
But people who supposedly knew better thought I, and the countless others there, both pro-and anti-Trump, were all bots. Wrong!
And meanwhile our president refuses to acknowledge that the problem of foreign power interventions exists; because in his narcissism the fact takes away from "his" achievement.
The Problem: Russian use social media to manipulate Americans. The Solution: Mandate & fund the teaching of critical thinking skills in U.S. schools. After all, it is a matter of national defense and security.
So Russians, after investing 100K into facebook political advertisement, manage to tank a 2 billion political campaign with aid from the 140-symbol per message social website. Apparently messages with then 140 symbols is difficult to digest by american public?)
Here's my question: Isn't it curious that all this Russia business (them interfering in the election, now on FB and twitter) seems to have materialized since Trump got elected???? Smells funny to me.
Exercise freedom of choice.
Boycott Facebook and Twitter.
Read reputable journals.
Think for yourself.
1
Divisive activities during the reign of the divisive President
Social media is new in the sense that the tooks are more advanced, faster, can reach a larger audience who can comment real time. But part of what is underlying what is being written about (not so much the topics, but rebellion, differing opinions, some cited comments, some name-calling polemics etc) has happened before. Pampheteering, dating back to the 1600s in Europe, and especially widespread in America in the 1700s and 1800s was the Twitter and Facebook (in terms of divisive discourse) of its time. History doesn't tell us the future, but it helps us ask better questions (and stop asking the same ones over and over). Could some journals confer with historians on these issues. As its not a Twitter or Favebooks (tools) issue alone, its a human behavior issue. Which we repeat with each new tool we invent. Let's discuss some if these issues, informed by problems we've experienced in the past to help us learn to manage ourselves and our tools going forward. Our innovators need to look back at history as well as looking forward.
1
Unfortunately they are still being used. I still see stuff being shared daily on both that are deliberate attempts to infuriate the base.
2
The big question is whether Donald himself is a bot. What he.claims could not come from a sane human being. Suggest that Kelly tie up his Twitter finger sending "news" announcements to his base. DJT better back off of Twitter faster than he has from Manafort lest he get rounded up in the Russian corral by the congressional investigators.
I read, but I don't read Facebook or Twitter or any other "social" medium to find information to help me form my opinions. I refuse to join that population.
The most important skill that any concerned citizen can/should posses is to think, critically think, about the various positions presented in political arguments. That is our problem. Sadly, very few posses that skill or even comprehend how greatly it matters.
3
" “Twitter functions more like a broadcast network,” she said. “People say things and everyone can hear it. When false information is stated, people can jump on false statements and challenge it.” "
Are you kidding Ms. North ?? Think about it when 46% of Americans Believe In Creationism According To Latest Gallup Poll http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/americans-believe-in-creationism. 46% of Americans believe in creationism, 32% believe in theistic evolution and 15% believe in evolution without any divine intervention. The data shows that the percent of Americans who believe in creationism has increased slightly by 2% over the last 30 years.
Silly people believe what they are told & are not capable or will not try to Think Critically. They live in the echo chamber that they were raised in with minds ruined by their silly parent`s culture. Slavery was good , hanging witches was good , a law against interracial marriage was good until 1967, invading Iraq because of WMD was good. Think about it you corporate mouth piece !
1
More Russians than Americans are reading the Federalist Papers.
Sad.
I suspect Russians cannot comprehend how American athletes who have been given so much by their country despise their country and disrespect its symbols.
very sad.
Yeah in Russia they just force all their athletes to pump themselves full of steroids and then lie about it. Great culture.
2
What about attempts to influence the election by NYT, WaPo, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, etc.?
3
Not to mention the WSJ, Fox, Breitbart, etc.?
Well, simply put, Americans are citizens of this country with skin in the game.
Equating sincere political beliefs of our citizenry with subversive foreign propaganda is ridiculous.
2
If you can't tell the difference between interference by a foreign nation with whom we've had decades of conflict and opinions expressed by and through American news media, you are definitely part of the problem, not part of the solution.
2
OF COURSE TWITTER IS A KEY ! We now have a "fake" President using Twitter to dispense "fake news": such as his proposed tax plan will benefit working Americans, or that Mexico will pay for his WALL !!!!
9
Since no one in his or her right mind would vote against Hillary, Americans must be sheep and the Russians, superb propagandists. Time to replace the NSA and CIA with Russians?
2
Social media - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. - is an American creation and Russians are better at it than Americans even turning it into a weapon.
What happened?
1
Putin is laughing all the way to the Kremlin. While we're all being manipulated by his hackers, discord and disunion have descended like a plague. This is precisely what this cynical dictator wants. If the democrats and Hillary had been benefitting from this mayhem the republicans would be foaming at their mouths in outrage and hysteria. Instead, since the status quo seems to benefit them and their fake president they are content to remain silent. It is beyond hpocritcal, it is treasonous.
2
The American presidential election in 2016 was violated by countless Russian cyber attacks. The election was of no value. The results of the 2016 American election are fraudulent, and do not remotely represent the intentions of the american people due largely to Russian interference.
So why do our elected officials continue to allow the Electoral College to contaminate the democratic votes of the American people?
Just under 3 million American votes did not count or make any difference what so ever in an allegedly Democratic election.
Why did our elected officials not simply schedule a second election, the moment they had evidence that Russian intelligence agents violated our Democracy?
Rather than using common sense, why do our elected officials have to endlessly drag out an investigation on our election, when our own elected officials delay, postpone, and block any meaningful investigation at every step of the way.
When there is reasonable evidence that an enemy foreign power aided Julia Stein or Bernie Sanders, in order to stop Secretary Clinton from getting elected and vomited fake news, twitter, and Facebook droppings, it is time for American elected officials to defend the American Democracy and schedule a new election like Kenya did, and shut down the media like France and Germany did, and shut down social media when they are filled with Russian excrement.
Regulate. Social. Media. Now.
3
This explains why Twitter is Trump's favorite app.
2
We're still on the Russian thing, are we? Rush Limbaugh correctly predicted Dems would do this.
Bitter clingers.
1
If you're on Twitter or Facebook you are part of the problem. You are fueling the fires. Boycott them. They are pure evil.
2
The German Marshall Fund is cited in this piece for its role in creating the Alliance for Securing Democracy, but the NYT fails to mention that the President of the GMF Karen Donfried was formerly a special assistant to Barack Obama. Laura Rosenberger, who is the director of the Alliance, was part of Hillary's State Department for many years and served as the foreign policy adviser for "Hillary for America," which was Hillary's principal campaign organization during the recent election. Mark R. Jacobson, referred to in the article only as a Georgetown professor, is in fact a fellow with the Democratic-leaning Pell Institute which is associated with the Pell Student Loan Program. The Pell Institute doesn't exactly love Trump because he wants to cut back on the budget for student grants and other Pell government-funded educational programs. Jacoboson worked in Obama's Defense Department for many years. Still functioning as a spokesman for Obama's failed foreign policy, he recently appeared on MSNBC to denounce Trump's policy on North Korea, which he called "scary, irresponsible, and unhelpful." Not surprisingly it is Adam Schiff, the Democratic Congressman from California, who is sounding the alarm on Russian influence. Apparently his efforts to substantiate Trump's alleged Russian collusion are not going too well so he is trying to attack Trump on another front with, of course, the help of the propagandist NYT.
3
Clearly a cover up of immense proportions is being perpetrated by trump himself and his henchmen. It's becoming increasingly obvious that Putin won trump the election and of course expects pay back. I see looming on the horizon a general realization spreading far and wide that essentially there's an imposter in the White House ... in truth a tragically unprepared and dangerously unprincipled ‘fake’ president who is an unabashed leech and an unrepentant liar.
4
"Seriously? We're spending Congressional time and money on this?"
The media, and some Members of Congress, still dream of watching "Tricky Dick" Trump sailing away in disgrace from the East Lawn in a helicopter, but this simply is never going to happen. Hillary Clinton didn't lose the election because of Russians: she lost because she never could have won. Donald Trump was saying things that no candidate before him had ever said, and he wasn't a retired General or a professional politician. He didn't need "interference" to win. From the moment he announced his candidacy, his victory was assured.
2
Twitter and Facebook are dirty platforms that are known to be information collection sites on all who come and go utilized by the pentagon and other nefarious agencies to pry into the lives of private citizens through back door channels. Now this article and many of your usual commentaries are playing like the people of the US are some how dotards like the president and cannot think for themselves. I voted, many voted. Nothing on FB or Twitter could change that i went to rallies and read articles. I did not just agree with my bubble community and then make a decision based on what everyone was saying. If that were the case I would have voted for Clinton no matter what. But she is an example of where the problem actually LIES. She helped Trump secure his GOP nomination, thinking he would be easy to beat, cheated the Democrats of a fair primary vote and may have even suppressed Bernie votes or even changed them.
NYT is being disingenuous to go along with this blamers narrative of 'What Happened' scrying.
We got the worst politician the world has ever seen thanks to the malfeasance of the DNC and the ego maniacal Clinton.
1
Live by the tweet, die by the tweet.
Facebook and Twitter caused our second 9/11 and neither wants to take responsibility for it.
4
Fake news is not and has never been illegal. People are free to lie if they want, it's protected under the first amendment. The title to this article is ridiculous sensationalism. William Randolph Hearst is back.
Twitter says it "Because Twitter is open and real-time...the platform is the best antidote to misinformation, when “journalists, experts and engaged citizens Tweet side-by-side correcting and challenging public discourse in seconds.”"
That is disingenuous claptrap, Twitter.
On one side you have thousands of Russian bot accounts pumping out divisive propaganda every few seconds.
On the other side, you have real people with jobs and lives, occasionally countering the obvious mistruths and getting swamped by lies.
Who do you think will win?
There's a reason Broadcast stations and Cable stations are regulated: Its because they have the power to destroy the country. So, now, do Twitter and Facebook.
It's time for common sense regulation of online platforms.
Any broadcast channel needs to take responsible steps to ensure they are not hijacked by a hostile foreign power. Facebook and Twitter have failed that test. Failed miserably.
Time for the Feds to step in.
3
The chickens have come home to roost. The www has certainly made it physically safer to be a provacateur these days. Peddling influence, in situ, on foreign soil is so old school now. It is probably safe to say that all international players, especially the U.S., utilize these social media platforms to disseminate propaganda, or to foment dissent, and so serve their sly agendas at home and abroad. Mr. Trump, for example, has been well served by his own Twitter ruses. All of which suggests that tweets are for twits... I recommend following Edward Snowden's lead - keep your cell phone in the fridge and engage your neighbor in healthy conversation.
Signed...
Not-a-Bot
2
When I think of Twitter, I think of the president. From there, it's all down hill.
6
Russia, Facebook and Twitter aren't the problem. American stupidity and closed mindedness are the real problem. It takes all of five minutes to do a search and find out if a story or opinion is fake. Until people are consistently willing to do their due dilligence and accept that they might be on the "wrong" side of a situation, we will always be vulnerable. No one seems to ever want to write about the real problem. If Russia is the gun, our gullibility are the bullets.
3
Lol , I'm some the comments printed here accusing the NYT's of printing "fake news" are so obviously Russian trolls , along with all those links often added to their comments . People will click on anything because it fits with their political preference , or are curious , bored , or simply because " inquiring minds want to know"(pun intended). This is the result of open platforms and generally , legitimate discussion is beneficial . It's only when there is no agreement to disagree and people start attacking each other; (even verbally) that it becomes disruptive and divisive and that is Putin's aim .
2
It seems obvious that Putin and Trump have struck a bargain let's destroy western democracy and the Trump family will become the richest in the world next to Putin. Lift oil sanctions deliver Ukraine were part of deal but delayed thanks to congress which has learned not to trust Don the con. Sowing division stirring up race relations Putin/Trump are working hard at as Trump needs to get all those billions into his coffers before the American people wake up and see the Trump campaign and Russia really did collude long ago as Russia bankrolled Trump for years when banks refused to. The country will recover and stifle Putin's attempt to disrupt our democracy and when Mueller provides evidence of Trumps corruption the process of removing this greedy traitor demagogue from office will begin.
2
Keeping the sentences short gives greater opportunity to write more of them. Such is the beauty of the Tweet.
Despite President Trump's supposed links to 'the Russians,' it's probably true that he supplies his own tweets. Filtering it through Russian censors might actually help him.
1
These social media sites must be regulated as public utilities with strict over sight under the Patriot Act and Espionage Act.
Say what ever you want, free speech is a right and no one wants to stop any one from sying what they believe.
At the same time we can't continue to let loose lips sink ships.
1
If you Google the names mentioned in this article you will find they all worked for the Obama administration in the Defense and State departments or advised him in other capacities. One of them Laura Rosenberger was the head of the Hillary for America election campaign. Funny, but it sounds like they're all Democrats with an ax to grind. All their efforts, of course, are entirely "bipartisan." To me it sounds like election meddling but too late and after the fact. The Russians at least had a better sense of timing.
1
We have comments, endorsed by the New York Times, such as "Somehow, I have little faith that Congress will spend the money to fix this given how greatly they benefitted (sic) from Russian meddling." Congressional investigations are ongoing. The considerable resources of the largest and most influential newspapers in the United States, and a number overseas as well, are tirelessly pursuing this story. Headlines imply that it is a proven fact that Mrs Clinton would have won the election without Russian tampering. At the risk of being branded a tool of Vladimir Putin I suggest that we calm down.
1
This reporting by the Times and other mainstream outlets increasingly feels like a new form of McCarthyism. What exactly is an "influence campaign"? Even if there were fake accounts posting misinformation on social media, how is this the province of Congress to investigate? Implicit in all of this hysteria is the idea that the public is too unsophisticated to recognize misinformation when they see it. Whether or not this is true, the dissemination and consumption of information and opinions, regardless of the quality or supposed truth of that information, is not something that can or should be regulated. If the mainstream media is troubled by the growing number of people seeking alternative sources of news and information, it has no one to blame but itself.
2
Either Twitter is incompetent because they were unaware of Russian propaganda bots, or they knew and didn't care.
Regardless of which is true, it now seems that the risk of social media use in our country far outweigh any benefits.
2
"When false information is stated, people can jump on false statements and challenge it.”
I tried to challenge false anti-Hillary statements on Twitter. It ain't easy. Once the person realized I could counter their propaganda with citations and facts, they blocked me. Twitter should at least vet users' servers against claimed identities or ban the use of Tor browsers or anonymizers on their site. If someone claims to be a housewife from Idaho, their server shouldn't reside in Sevastopol.
2
The first thing noticed atop the story was the picture; in the foreground a no LEFT turn sign; in the mid-ground a no RIGHT turn sign; in the background, TWITTER; very clever.
Despite all the evidence that points to the outside influence social media undoubtedly played in our election, if Hillary would have expectedly won, would this issue now be being investigated? Doubtful the Piggy would have gone wah, wah, wah, all the way home; after dispensing of the cast of 100s in the Primary, that Piggy would have gone back to Market.
3
Unfortunately the Internet is set for both convenience and anonymity. That can be a ripe field for misuse.
Enter into it at your own risk. And for cryin’ out loud don’t believe EVERYTHING you see there!
How is today’s fake news different from the fake news about the Vietnam War that was promulgated by the Johnson and Nixon administrations in the ‘60s and ‘70s? How is it different from the Clintons’ early disavowal of bimbo eruptions, or the Reagan administration’s Iran-Contra fictions? How is it different from FDR’s disavowel of his intention to get involved in the European war prior to Pearl Harbor? How is it different from any Republican politician’s press release about the benefits of tax cuts for the rich?
It seems to me that politicians would like to rein in Facebook and Twitter because they want to be the sole source of fake news.
2
From the earliest BBS, I was hooked on the access to instant answers to most any question, but I also saw that the anonymity of these message boards encouraged some people to give voice to their most vicious, racist, antisocial thoughts. Reading those posts is highly disturbing, depressing and a waste of my time, so even though I'm online for hours every single day, I refuse to waste one minute on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Snapchat or any of their competitors. Some of my friends believe these platforms are a net positive for our culture and our world, despite the contradictory attacks of political correctness, groupthink, and anarchical shock posts. I don't agree. Still depressing and a waste of time.
2
600 accounts is not very many and it's unclear whether or not they actually had any impact. I'm not quite sure why liberals are trying to start pinning everything on Russia, when hackers, and these type of infiltrators etc. are all over the world. Do they wish to relive the cold war?
2
Shut it down. Problem fixed.
2
The irony of all this could not be greater..
A few websites, sprung from the liberal "Coastal Elite" hubs, may be complicit in the election of a candidate even some Republicans may have thought was too extreme.
The "tools" these websites provided, in the name of free speech, ultimately became the very weapons the Russians and their bots used, to suppress information and spread falsehoods.
It would be funny, if it were not so ironic and sad.
1
There is an effort underway to focus Russia's meddling now on their efforts in social media, instead of the DNC and Podesta "hacks" that we heard about for months on end.
This is because there were no "hacks" and the emails did not come from Russia. What's interesting is the media being so compliant to the Dem party wishes.
What we'll soon see, and what Trump has in his back pocket - ready to play - is that the "hacks" were "leaks". It will dominate the news cycle and when Trump gets in a serious jam (like with the Mueller investigation) he is going to play it.
Do ya think this has anything to do with the Donalds use of Twitter?
Some thing to think about - "Socially Redeeming Value"
It used to be a standard applied by regulators when we had such things as part of our government. Because of it we never had anything like Fox or the ubiquitous dreck it lead to since before de-regulation. There was and is always an appetite for things that pander to our base desires the difference between before and after is our elected pols. Before they acted in the long term best public interest of society. After they acted in the immediate interests of already rich people who wanted to make a lot more money than they were already making. Apparently being rich and profitable wasn't enough and that was not the bar to acquaintance or friendship it should be to any sensible person to those politicians all of them republican.
I am more concerned about money in politics, even foreign money influencing our politicians, or special interests buying up political ads on TV, than I am about this hysteria over Russia. And I do not read RT or Sputnik or use Twitter or Facebook. Please give the hyped agenda a break.
1
Speaking of money in politics, Putin and his fellow Russian oligarchs have embezzled hundreds of billions of dollars from the Russian people using their political power.
1
Russia's use of Twitter as a misinformation tool was only to be expected and only the tip of the iceberg. However, what is not to be expected is the continued use of companies with explicit ties to the Kremlin by American consumers. Kaspersky Labs, whose founder has ties to the Kremlin, has contracts from many companies including some defense contractors to provide cyber security. And all this in an environment where Russian nationals are known to be subverting and hacking into our computing systems. Now how complacent is that?
So Russia tries to influence what American citizens believe, and all the intelligence agencies and everyone knows this is bad.
So I take it from this standard the U.S. have never attempted, and never will attempt to influence the citizens of other countries? So who influences or interferes more, other countries in America, or America in other countries? What exactly do they mean by "influence"?
Is surveillance influence or interference? Is leaking intfluence? Can foreign journalists influence, or even U.S. journalists? Or do we mean foreign intelligence agencies or even U.S. intelligence agencies?
Angela Merkel very publicly accused the U.S. or surveilling her, and Barack Obama didn't even deny it, just very publicly replied that all countries have intelligence (surveillance?) programs.
Looking into the premise of all these questions on influence and interference in the election, I'm trying to decide if the following question is legitimate or absurd: Did Trump or Clinton, or their campaigns, immorally influence or interfere in the election by trying to get people to vote for them by any and all legal means available to them?
So much public relations pablum has become embedded wisdom around the large for profit internet corporations - don't believe the hype.
Social media - including the comments sections here - in the final analysis - have degraded expression, and civilisation. The only real upsides is profit.
Thank you, NYT for your continued fight for the truth. Your hard work may not be appreciated by all Americans, but those of us who understand what is truly happening to our nation will forever be in your debt. We know your struggle to reveal the truth is real and that you are battling nearly insurmountable odds. Please keep fighting the good fight. Our nation is depending on you.
2
Thanks for bringing this up. A "Science" review of the election in their 2/3/17 issue says Trump's "twitter followers were loaded with bots." This issue is important because twitter in our world has the same dynamic as does quorum sensing in the bacterial world–IT IS A MEANS OF VOTING! IT CARRIES OTHERS IN THE FLOOD OF APPROVAL! OUR DEMOCRACY IS DESTROYED BY THE BOTS.
Quorum sensing is when a colony of bacteria sense a threat. Individual bacteria secrete a messenger molecule (in our world a tweet will do) and when the message gets loud enough the colony shifts into action to defend against it, seen commonly in developing antimicrobial resistance.
Similar processes are common throughout nature; the site of a new hive is chosen when more bees are found on the new site than others. The process is in our biological history. Twitter should realize this and enforce the one person one voice rule that is a part of both nature and democracy.
1
Anyone who thinks that open and energetic debate of policy issues (in a public forum available for that very purpose) imperils the American system doesn’t understand it.
1
If I wanted to destabilize a society, sow misunderstanding and create chaos, I would create Twitter. It would not surprise me if it were being financed by the Russians. And if it isn't, then it's the biggest favor anyone has ever done for Mr. Putin.
2
Disinformation as a political and military tactic was not invented by the internet. The internet merely makes it easier for people to find others who share their illusions.
Twitter is not the problem. It is merely the surface manifestation of a fundamental disease: people believing what they see online. Twitter is no different from Facebook, Wells Fargo, Equifax, Google, or any other large corporation. They have no allegiance to America, its values, or its people. Their allegiance is solely to profit, a portion of which goes to hire marketing firms, lobbyists, and lawyers to pretend their motives are noble.
The important thing to remember, though, is that corporations do not make decisions; people do. Unless and until those people at the top are held accountable, with criminal trials and serious jail time when appropriate, nothing will change, fines and such simply written off as the cost of doing business.
Meanwhile, there is one thing we all can do while not holding our breaths waiting for government action: we can stop pretending anything on the internet is or ever will be private, safe, or reliable. And then we can act accordingly. We can stop believing things online just because they reinforce what we already believe, what we hope will be, or what we fear. We can stop pretending every new gadget represents progress. The F.D.A. recently recalled cardiac pacemakers, as they now can be hacked. Think what will happen if drones and self-driving cars are turned loose.
5
Is this Steve Bannon's little brother, "Colin Crowell, Twitter’s vice president of public policy, government and philanthropy, said in a blog post in June that the company should not be an arbiter of whether a tweet is truthful or not. Because Twitter is open and real-time, he said the platform is the best antidote to misinformation, when “journalists, experts and engaged citizens Tweet side-by-side correcting and challenging public discourse in seconds.”
Shut twitter down. It's a danger to civilization.
11
I'll preface my comment by saying I used to be on Twitter and deleted my account because I found much of it to be a cesspit of vitriol, hatred and ad hominem. That said, all it really is is a communication tool and there are many people adding valuable, entertaining, informative, and helpful stuff there. In and of itself, Twitter is no more a danger to civilization than any other communication tool and suggesting it be banned outright because it is abused or misused by some is lazy thinking and no solution at all. Should we ban telephones because people make crank phone calls or leave threatening voice mails? Perhaps we should ban the smartphone, which is the device which has made the influence of tools like Twitter and Facebook what it is.
I had so many problems with Facebook that I have not had at Twitter. I know the risks with Twitter and I know people from other countries will be on there, but they are easy to spot and easy to ignore, its built into the design. Twitter to me seems less cloudy and less deceptive than Facebook. Facebook last year presented in its right-hand-news column stories that were the most shared. Well some of those stories were so obviously fake, but presented as "official" Facebook news stories - several times it said Regis Philbin and Aretha Franklin had died. Both are still alive. But people were not inured to the Facebook right-hand news column with the skepticism they use when perusing the cover of The Enquirer, and soon enough college-educated "friends" were sharing those fake stories in the lead up to the election. With Twitter I just take a look and then leave. Facebook just makes me sea-sick.
3
It is time to regulate severely Twitter and Facebook, and any social media that is willing to allow foreigners to pose as Americans to poison or influence elections. Twitter allows bot accounts, and it allows people to join while concealing their real identity. Russians should be banned from these outfits until after the next presidential election, while we sort out how to monitor their social media espionage.
These revelations are execrable. It should be as hard to get a twitter account as it is to get a drivers license. And laws should be passed so that these social media companies can be sued for damages for fake news and fake users. They should be made liable for the harm they are allowing to our democracy.
David Lindsay, InconvenientNews.wordpress.com
33
Who would be in charge of handing out Twitter accounts? Since it's just a communication tool, I'm guessing the government could not legally or constitutionally deny someone the use of this tool unless there had already been a violation of laws. I could be wrong, but I hope I'm not. And when you finish with Twitter, what will you do with the rest of the internet? Don't kid yourself that the websites and tools getting the most media attention (Twitter and Facebook) are the only places where this fake information resides.
To be fair we need to reel in our own government (NSA et al) from doing this themselves. Just because we are the "good guys" doesn't mean its ok for us to do it to others.
And how do you propose to measure the harm of 'fake' news or "fake" accounts?
1
" Full of sound and fury; signifying nothing."
6
whatever that means.
Interpretation is part of the exam !
The slide into the morass of slanted journalism goes back to Ronald Reagan's 1987 rejection of legalizing the FCC's "Fairness Doctrine". The doctrine, which had worked for at least 38 years at that point, required stations to "afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views on issues of public importance."
Now we're forced to suffer fools like Fox and Breibart.
13
'Colin Crowell, Twitter’s vice president of public policy, government and philanthropy ...'
Interesting set of overlapping responsibilities that only Jared Kushner could manage. Suggests philanthropy to influence public policy and government are part of his brief.
Eh tu, Twitter?
7
We cannot trust Facebook or Twitter to give us the unvarnished and complete truth as to how they facilitated the Russian interference in our election. They must be directed to completely open their records to Mr. Mueller and his team; if necessary, subpoenas should be issued.
Just several weeks ago, Facebook and Twitter told us the Russians did not exploit their services at all. As of now, Twitter has told us almost nothing, and Facebook has given us an accounting that is not credible. Last week the NY Times told Facebook about, among other things, influential fake Facebook accounts that Facebook wasn't been aware of (if their public accounts were truthful). Now this week the Alliance for Securing Democracy has tracked 600 fake Russian Twitter accounts, all pro-Trump, all pushing just the NFL story--which Twitter had not told us about.
8
The Hamilton 68 dashboard is great. But I would like to see someone compile a list of Twitter troll accounts that aid in disinformation campaigns, be they Russian or US extremists. If we all blocked them that would effectively neuter them.
7
Seriously, Takoma, how do you know what you are reading on Twitter is disinformation and not the truth?
1
On Tweets with links to news sites, as discussed in this article, it is pretty easy to discern what is a legitimate news site and what isn't.
As to who is a troll on Twitter and who isn't--- the folks running Hamilton 68 CAN tell who the trolls are. But they clearly state that is not their focus and do not publish troll handles. I wish someone would.
Otherwise, I may read but won't retweet, like or usually engage with people advocating extreme views on Twitter. They may be authentic or they may be trolls. I am just not interested.
1
Since it is still going on as reported here and in other news, I think all Americans with FB or Twitter accounts should stop using them until they can prove to us that they are working in our best interests and not for what has become a trillion dollar industry.
10
Twitter continues to be an influence in the alt right, white nationalism, Russian impact upon our political elections. All you have to do is to read the fake accounts pro Trump, anti Clinton/Obama to understand that they are working 24/7 to interfere with our national values and sense of decency.
11
"But there is evidence that Twitter may have been used even more"
Evidence that something may have happened means it also may not have happened . Can you name one Russian that advertised on Twitter or Facebook?
Yes. Facebook handed over 3,000 of them last week, and its just the tip of the iceberg.
1
Yes, they have lists of Russian accounts and in some cases were paid in Rubles.
2
Why not shut down Facebook and Twitter until they can figure out how to be more secure. That another country can easily influence people and policy in the U.S. is outrageous.
8
Social media platforms, like Twitter and Facebook, are weapons, just as surely as are guns, only they destroy with words. We've seen this as individuals and governments are targeted by malicious forces. If Facebook and Twitter won't take the steps they need to take to put a stop to it because they don't want to harm their income, then maybe it is time for the US government to step in. Shut down Twitter and Facebook before elections. I bet Facebook and Twitter would find a fix real fast.
5
Something tell me that if Trump is not involved in this, he certainly will be during the next election. Peddling influence via social media is his expertise.
5
With FREEDOM comes RESPONSIBILITY. The problem and challenge is that our legal laws that promote Free Speech but also the ethics, security and protection that are intertwined with this democratic freedom have not caught up and adapted to include Social Media. If the New York Times, the Washington Post or CNN posted and/or Broadcast some of the irresponsible, inaccurate and threatening diatribe that appears every day on Twitter and Facebook, their organizations would find themselves in court in a mountain of lawsuits. Ethics and Critical Thinking are integral components that promote and protect Freedom of Speech. All of us, the American People, journalists, FACEBOOK, Twitter and frankly our government leaders need to reflect and address HOW we promote ACCOUNTABILITY and RESPONSIBILITY with regards to Freedom of Speech and the commercial institutions that currently are financially and politically profiting and controlling Social Media. If we do not, we will ALL pay a huge price.
3
Tweeter is clearly Trump's enabler it's what he thinks makes him modern Presidential. He doesn't care that history will prove him to be less than modern Presidnetai with his tweets.
2
Such a simple fix to this all. Tie accounts to users cell phones. It will decrease MAUs for the social media companies, but improve the service for everyone.
5
The question is, where did the Russians get the database on who to contact? Ever wonder why his commission on voter fraud is collecting the information they say they need? Something tells me that if Trump and his people are not involved in this, they certainly will be the next election. Influence peddling via social media is Trump's expertise.
4
As long as 45 has a account, Twitter CONTINUES to be nothing more than Putin's megaphone.
5
The American people know why they voted the way they did and it wasn't because some Russian told them to.
2
No, it was because a lot of people are so uninformed they can't tell fact from fiction.
4
so why do they more incline to vote based on fiction? They have easy access to the TRUTH through the wonderful official media, and yet they believe more in fiction than to official truth. Why?
Could Twitter restrict the use of bots like many other online message boards? I don't see how bots are necessary for the maintenance of an "open and real-time" platform for speech. They clearly present a danger when set to malicious purposes.
5
What is the difference between Russian lies being propagated on Twitter, and trumps' lies being broadcast on TV and the print media?
Both are destructive to our country, both are tolerated as uncensored speech.
The filter is, or should be, a citizen with a working knowledge of politics, and an educated, sophisticated, critical ear.
1
The differences are that the FB, TWTR ads are "micro-targeted", i.e. I can send my fake news article to all likely white, gun owning, conservative with a known political bias near Palmetto, FL and then know if they read it and if they forward or commented on it. (yes, all these dimensions and more can be mined and targeted). If they like it, I'll give them more, if they don't I'll try another meme. It really not that hard to do with a little bit of speciality programming. The ad/article can appear for any amount of time and can be pulled without leaving much of a trace.
That's how it's different, and they don't need to convince everybody, just 70k voters in three states. Fractionate the middle, jump into the divide and crack it open. Argue for Jill Stein (they did), Argue for Bernie (they did), Argue for Trump (boy did they ever).
2
Twitter could dramatically reduce the number of bots by having verified identities. It's a no-brainer. If they won't do it themselves, they should be legislated to do it. The EU is bringing in very strong data protection rules next year, and North America should do this as well.
40
That's ridiculous. Twitter is a tool. The fact that some people misuse the tool isn't the company's problem, nor is it worthy of a second thought by the government.
No international social media platform -- including Facebook -- have "verified identities" for all but a very small subset of users because it's impossible to do so. This is simply the reality of large-scale networking.
The idea that "If they won't do it themselves, they should be legislated to do it" is ridiculous. You might as well legislate that water no longer be wet.
Everyone demanding that Twitter censor every fake account would do well to inform themselves about the technologies behind social media platforms. They'd quickly learn that what they've all calling for is impossible.
The first sentence in the article is problematic. Is
Twitter a "debate?" I don't think so. It's a debasement
of verbal communication -- or maybe a brand new form of communication.
Sometimes I think of Twitter as the lobbing of verbal spitballs.
Other times it looks like pulsations of memes across a twitchy
nerve net. In any case, we should find out how its content actually
influences people's actions before losing any sleep over it.
I'm old enough to remember the 1950s when there was public anxiety
about "subliminal persuasion" by way of tachistoscopically
presented messages in the middle of movies and television programs.
Nothing came of it,
1
Great reporting, NYT, and thanks to the Alliance for Securing Democracy for monitoring. The dashboard is fascinating.
4
I work for silicon valley companies and trust me when I say that they could care less about free speech. Social media companies "respected" free speech only because they made money on ad buys. This was about cash, stock value, user engagement.
11
Twitter is not "struggling" with fake and hateful accounts. They can ban them according to federal law in France and Germany; they simply don't in other countries where no law exists. It's not in Twitter's interests to ban their fake users because it would highlight just how much of their platform is used for spam (versus authentic monthly active users, which is the bread and butter for social media companies).
3
Still looking for a boogeyman from the election? The "Birthers" of the Trump presidency are still going strong. Sad.
6
The solution was simple for me: delete Twitter.
It's not what it used to be. Now it's just twitter bots, people shouting their opinions at each other, and hackers trying to hack your account. It's not fun anymore.
4
I have never used either Twitter or Facebook and I haven't missed out on anything.
3
Think laws, rules, ethics and oversight are bad? This is what happens without those things in place. Surely there are some enterprising attorneys out there who will file class action suits against these companies for not only allowing our democracy to be corrupted by a hostile foreign power, but, according to reports, openly mused and laughed about it. As long as the rubles keep coming in, eh boys and girls?
6
Russia is waging war on us. It is, at this point, cyberwarfare, a preliminary softening of the target. But make no mistake--it is war.
8
so twitter and Facebook are the equivalent of that game we all played in elementary school... gossip.... we were supposed to learn how easily things get distorted... we are being duped by a 3rd grade game every single second of the day
4
Twitter saying the best remedy to Russian propaganda on their site is for other users to immediately counter the mis-information is like saying it's okay to dump raw sewage in the public drinking water because citizens can immediately go and clean it up themselves.
9
There was NO Russian interference in US elections !
What happened to US interference in other countries elections ?
There may have been Martian interference in the way some people think here on Earth.
I believe this is coming from one of the Russian operatives. I've often wondered about these pro Russia posts on nytimes. Now I know.
2
Social media is a failure. In the original and somewhat rose-tinted concept, people would connect with each other, and receive information from people they knew and trusted. Many saw it as a healthy alternative to a centralized media paid to manufacture consent.
Unfortunately, Americans want to get things for free, and to get them they accept advertising in all its various forms.
In radio and television, public broadcasting provided an alternative. We should reimagine what a public internet service might look like.
4
Russia twitter bots have been around for so long, that's it has become something of a sport to count them, and to guess what AI programming has been used to create the posts.
Really, we have to exercise our own judgement on what gets posted on Twitter. Certainly the bots are straightforward to spot if anyone wants to go to the trouble. And, yes, I agree with the article that the bots often take both sides of an issue. During the #takeaknee event, however, some of the bot posts were unintelligible, making it difficult to decide which side, if any, they were supporting.
2
What would happen if we shut 'social' media down for a while? and during that
hiatus structure it with some safeguards. Think of all the time to get things done.
5
How does anyone know if what they are being fed is propaganda from say the Democrats or the Republicans, interest groups with an agenda, etc. If you are so convinced that fake news is coming from Russia, how are you sure? Maybe someone wants it to appear that it is from Russia. Easy to do. Further, we have almost 3,000 American companies operating in Russia, maybe an American is tweeting or using Facebook in Russia to push their candidate in America? I read these comments here and I cannot help but wonder if there are any critical thinkers. Seriously, are you being manipulated?
10
You raise a good but hollow point. Next to the mountain of Evidence on Russia, where is there evidence on us? Also note Russian efforts to fracture alliances are global, extending to dozens of countries.
At some point you realize you are under attack in slow motion. We are under attack.
2
Do the revelations of Snowden count? Does admission of American official to pay Russian opposition? Does the revelations of American official discussing secretly who should be in the Ukrainian Government?
Note to the NY Times folks: You should check into the origin of comments posted right here, on your site. I am pretty sure we’ve been seeing a fair amount of Russian propaganda right here for the past year or two. (I am skeptical about the post I’m replying to, for instance.)
Please think about taking steps to reduce the trolls here. (Perhaps display country of origin on each post, based on IP lookup?)
1
How hard is it for hackers to hack Twitter into oblivion? All it contains is racist vitriol and a ranting lunatic named Trump.
5
Am I to take it that NYT loves Facebook and Zuckerburg that it now wants to blame Twitter, in stead of Facebook, for the Russia connection or influence? I am not blaming anyone...because so far the evidence is slim. But this Zuckerberg NYT connection is getting a bit strange. Can you stop your driveling, without strong evidence, on this issue? Even Zuckerberg is embarrassed by your drivels on Facebook and Twitter. You got solid evidence...then do the expose, otherwise SHUTU
8
Hmmm. It has been obvious over time that Russian Trolls frequently visit the NYT comment section. So here is the problem...."because so far the evidence is slim"......Really? How is anyone to know whether or not you are a Russian Troll?
6
One of the ways these companies can fix this (the NYT included) is to work with governments to provide a mechanism for people to be "verified" citizens. So like, you have a green check box next to your name issued by NYT, it's possible that your name could have a check box and a flag that indicates your nationality. The country of Estonia already does this in a way with digital IDs on their government websites. It's basically the same thing. It's possible for things to be granular too. States could provide digital IDs to verify state residence. This issue can be solved very easily with a little bit of pretty basic technology not much different than what we already have.
2
Your recommendation is a little scary, Steve. You may wish to think that through.
Would the Times please spend the same amount of time investigating the propaganda put out by the defense industry,CIA, the pentagon,less we forget the knowing lies by the Bush white house that lead to the death's of 100's of thousands.Russia twittering and facebooking seems rather harmless in comparison.
8
The NYT comment section is frequently visited by Russian Trolls. A typical tactic is to change the subject. Are you a Russian Troll?
6
Twitter. Uber. FaceBook. PayPal. Thiel. Enough. Enough.
3
Illegal drugs wiil always find a way into this country because there is a market of willing users. Fake news is an issue because idiots likewise are its willing market. Neither are going anywhere anytime soon.
5
How ironic that Face Book and Twitter, 2 democrat run social media outlets, sold Mrs. Clinton and America down the road for chump advertising change. Trump would never had won but for secret Russian collusion with democrat owned social media outlets. How greedy are this hypocrite democrats?! Open a criminal investigation. Any knowing collusion should be punished with federal jail time.
1
Sell the sizzle not the steak! That has been the mantra of snake oil salesmen like Trump for hundreds of years. Millions of Americans who bought the sizzle are left staring at an empty, greasy grill. Meanwhile porcine Trumpsters devour all that's sustainable. How then do you keep the starving base engaged as their leaders bloat? Follow the lead of Lenin and his prodigy Putin! Feed the people hate, lies and ideological dogma. There is a new spoon the feed the masses now, social media! Gorge on misinformation with a blend of hate, a dash of fundamentalist religion and a sprinkling of lies.
1
It is hard for me to swallow that our intelligence agencies could not anticipate how social media would be used during an election. More than likely it was well known and they chose not to address it.
As to why it is being addressed now is as obvious as to why it wasn't addressed then.
1
Twitter,Facebook,Equifax. The common denominator? Arrogance followed by too-late the-horse-is-outta-the-barn contrition!
1
the common denominator is corporate concern only for shareholder value; and a government so completely owned by corporations that it refuses to regulate, properly tax, and fine and punish as needed.
1
Trump on Twitter still behaves just like a Russian operative. Drop a tweet here about transgender military policy, a tweet there about misunderstanding NFL protests and sit back and watch the country tear itself apart.
8
My thought exactly. The aim of Russia is to divide and conquer. Trump acts like he want to a propoganda school. Who is operating his Twitter? Are we sure it’s him?
Before calling to arms to punish Russia for “meddling” US pubic should remember its own country’s history of interfering in foreign elections and politics. In one recent example the US didn’t just create fake Twitter accounts, it created a FAKE Twitter. According to the Times it tried to create a fake social media site in Cuba… but failed.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/04/world/americas/us-says-it-tried-to-bu...
3
What does that have to do with the present discussion?
2
It has to do everything with perspective. if the US is meddling in internal affairs of other countries, it is difficult for Americans to be outraged about thevother countries meddling in American affairs without being seen as hypocrites.
Russian propaganda--"whataboutism."
"What about the USA?"
They have used the same tactic for decades.
1
Let's just admit it. Russians won this cyber war. Their goal of knocking Clinton off - check! Their goal of tarnishing the image of the US around the world - check out the current president, his twitter feed, his racism, his dimness, his playing chicken with a madman over nuclear war - check! Their goal of sewing civil unrest and societal discord in the US- check and check!
4
And here we have, a President praising Russia to high heaven while denigrating our intelligence agencies while they attempt to undermine our democracy and country. This man is nothing short of a treasonous American. Meanwhile, the GOP continues to protect this man knowing full well the harm he is doing to our country. They themselves are nothing but phony Americans who think waving the flag is all you have to do be a patriot. And their mindless supporters continue to cheer and elect this treasonous bunch.
6
Who could believe that an idea so stupid could be so destructive?
2
At this point I am sick and tired of all these pundits saying words to the effect that of course, Russia didn't influence the election. It's obvious. They did. They gave us this abomination of 45 and his kakistocracy that is destroying our nation both as a world leader and as a somewhat united entity. This success was made possible by the absolute greed and insipid unethical behavior of Zuckerberg, Facebook and whoever is responsible for Twitter, I don't even care who it is. The Russians Used the EXACT same tactics they have employed since the late 1940s, only this time with the ease of access and influence of social media along with stupidity of about 35 percent of Americans along with the evil hypocrisy of Rupert Murdoch and Fox News, finally succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. WE NEED TO RID OURSELVES OF THE CANCER THAT IS 45 AND HIS KAKISTOCRACY. ANY WE CAN.
6
It is interesting as more and more comes out of the specifics of how Russia tried to pervert the election process in the US 2016 Election, that Mr. Donald Trump who was so arrogant and loud in stating his usual fake news and denials about Russian interference..."this is a lie, Russia did not do what they are accused of, they did not try to pervert the election...and on and on..." now is remarkably quiet. I have not read for days, possibly weeks, any comment by this "fake" President related to how the interference did not happen. Sadly Twitter and Facebook have been used, and somehow this has to be stopped. But how? Still they are not the perpetrators of the lies on Trumps behalf...the Russians are, possibly Mannafort, and all the traitors who make money telling them all about America, the inside story, and it seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time to charge any of them...including Flynn. And possibly Trump. Still waiting for the proof that nails the coffin. It is building up and it is bound to happen. Hopefully before the tax reform and decimation of the Affordable Care Act...
2
If Google doesn't have deep,VERY deep, histories of it's users than absolutely no one does. It is the largest invader of personal privacy in the world, and has every single users, as well as millions that aren't (!), personal data, and net use profiles, for sale as it's primary income. NSA? They are nothing compared to this monster intel farm! I am surprised that they have not been shut down for their practices, but then just where would the Federal government, as well as all the other world governments, and corporations, get their intel on ordinary citizens, that "law" prevents them from 'officially' mining?
1
The Times has a related article, "How Fake News Turned a Small Town Upside Down", which details how fake news can get a community to turn on itself and completely change people’s lives.
The author, Caitlin Dickerson, was on last night’s The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC.
Ms. Maddow’s theme for that show was a showstopper: the deliberate, systematic, and precise propagation of fake news and related propaganda aimed at specific Internet communities in order to aggressively foment antagonism toward "Them" — whoever Them may be in the eyes of the targeted Internet community.
She listed a number of examples where Russia has repeatedly used this tactic to exacerbate hostilities and divisions of entire Western nation’s populations against themselves. The examples Ms. Maddow cited are jaw-dropping in their significance and relevance in recent and current major news stories: Brexit, Catalonia, Ukraine, France’s and Germany’s far-right parties, the Texas secessionist movement, and California’s "Calexit" effort (which had its leading proponent’s headquarters in Russia), among others.
I hope The Times, MSNBC, and other news outlets will further investigate and report on this apparently all-too-real and literally world-changing news.
6
The mainstream press has finally found a scapegoat for their feckless reporting and being conned into non-stop publicity for Trump.
It was THEM- and they stole our ad money too! We'll show them we understand clickbait.
1
The hearing should be open!
5
Hundreds or thousands Russian accounts "flooded" the network that has millions of users. Moreover, they did it in such ingenious way that it required special investigation to detect this 'flood", and yet it had an enormous effect on American election. Really? I like also definition of anti-American. How come that discussion of Hillary and her role in foreign policy became 'anti- American"? Are the US and Hillary synonyms now? Since when discussion of wiretapping by the American Government became anti- American? What next? Is discussion of the Puerto Rico plight anti-American now? No wonder, American people look for discussions elsewhere outside of official media.
3
“It’s about creating societal division, identifying divisive issues and fanning the flames.” .. Not to sound conspiratorial, but one could say the same thing about Trump's divisive and out-of-the-blue comments about the NFL players' protest.
3
The problem with this situation is that Trump won. Had Hillary won, the Russians' efforts would have been kept in perspective. Twitter would have been recognized as a platform on which anything could be posted, and Americans would have been congratulated for understanding this.
Trump's win has brought out a "sore loser" mentality that is making mountains out of molehills.
5
The public outrage over the collection of personal data by the NSA looks silly when compared to what Facebook, Twitter and Google have done. I don't think the NSA would sell out the American people for a few rubles.
5
There is difference between people voluntarily giving up their personal information via Facebook or Twitter and secret gathering of this info by the Government agency.
Hopefully, when the made for television congressional hearings regarding Twitter begin, the self promoting, hypocritical, rambling, preambles of the committee members will be limited to 140 characters.
2
Very disturbing to see the Times making conclusions that the use of Twitter, Facebook, RT, Sputnik and other communication tools constitutes some kind of unusual, vile and subversive activity - with virtually zero substantiation. This is manipulative reporting, what many call propaganda, aimed at demonizing Russia, keeping it our "enemy" and supporting the deep state, military-industrial complex, fear, prejudice and unending war. Frankly, RT and Sputnik provide a widely accepted antidote to the US media oligopoly and government posturing. Folks, watch RT and see what you think. Or maybe it will implant a virus in your brain that will further undermine our amazingly effective democracy. I feel like I'm in an alternate universe when I read the mindless rants and conclusions that Russia has undermined our democracy - PLEASE - the DNC and unlimited cash (bribery) from our oligarchy and corporations undermined our democracy and apparently distracted the media and public from this FACT by creating conspiracy theories - "The Russians Did It." Grow up, please.
3
What an amazing and implausible world we now live in where the Russians chastise Americans for not standing during the playing of the Star Spangled Banner (aka our national anthem:, for those who may have forgotten), all this via disguised Twitter accounts . . .
5
Yet another article on the ' Russians did it' narrative. Ignoring some salient facts in the actual history of the election. First and foremost the DNC and Hillary Clinton conspired to undermine the primaries. The Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) concluded, through data forensics, that there was no hack on the DNC from Russia or any other outside source. A data dump onto memory key or a local thumb drive had occurred and therefor could only have been done by someone with total inside access within the DNC computer system.The dump proved DNC undermining of Sanders and helping Trump in the GOP victory.
Twitter, Facebook and other online social platforms are now being put upon to prove that they were not utilized to somehow change the outcome of the vote in 2016. But the sad truth is that Clinton and the DNC did this to themselves. The DNC was caught helping the Trump campaign insuring that he would be victorious over the other candidates and I quote "WikiLeaks’ release shows that it was seen as in Clinton’s best interest to run against Trump in the general election. ... “We think our goals mirror those of the DNC,” stated the memo, attached to the email under the title “muddying the waters.” Millions of dollars of DNC funds went to propping up Trump in the GOP primary.
Data on computer hacks and vote count irregularities in the DNC primaries has been ignored by the press and investigators.
4
There was also #hilaryusedprivateemail and #DNCcolludesagainstBernie
Oh yeah - those were true.
2
Twitter developed & is profiting from it's Tweet system...Twitter can be used as a mass propaganda tool....Twitter should be legally forced to find a way to stop and control the misuse of it's service and Fake Tweets..
1
To anyone paying attention to Twitter in the year leading up to the election, it was obvious that mass amounts of bots were being used to manipulate the messaging.
Wasn’t there a single day where many millions of bot accounts followed Trump?
Pay attention. Read. Think.
1
These stories are ludicrous even if you accept them at face value. The Russians allegedly spent 100,000 dollars on Facebook on conflicting messages and now we hear they supposedly said nasty things about Clinton on Twitter.
Apparently, then, Russians have invented the notion of telling lies about political issues and with this dastardly new idea they have seized control of our political process. Let's hope nobody else follows their example-- we might have rich people, major corporations, think tanks, other foreign governments, our own government,politicians and even newspapers trying to stuff our heads full of nonsense. Whatever will we do?
4
This is the nature of any public platform. Random parties can use it for whatever purposes. There seems to be plenty of partisan bias coming from genuine Americans in the first place, which is likely why Russian agents can make believable ads, because the culture of divisiveness already exists.
You could seize government control of social media and start blocking/deleting stuff, but that doesn't jive with your values. So there really is no choice. Accept biased actors from all over the world, or give up your freedom in the name of national security.
1
We probably should have seen this coming back in the 90's when Microsoft had to make official statements that they had not bought the Catholic Church despite what "the internet" said.
2
Well, one solution is to not believe most of what we see on line/on our phones. I find an amazing amount of junk masquerading as fact.
A second solution is to not read or do tweets, etc. Imagine the hours and hours gained; the shocks and anxieties avoided; the friends not insulted!!
A third solution is to only communicate by written letters. Quelle horreur, for people who can't write script and must print. USPO would love that. So would your recipients. Much more personal.
A fourth solution is to just ignore the world as much as possible. There's very little you can do to change it anyway. Focus on what you can influence (notice I did not say "control" because that is a fiction) and let the rest go.
A fifth solution is to read and discuss cogent books and periodicals, even some newspapers.
And notice that I am posting this via the web using my computer and not a handwritten letter to the editor. Arrrggghhh!! Trapped.
2
I joined twitter for a month. The site seemed a haven for venting insults. Conversations rarely amounted to much beyond some partisan hatred and bias remarks. A waste of time. Trump reflects this quality with his relentless insults and threats. done.
1
Twitter is the biggest joke of all, too bad the joke is on us.
1
Yawn. Another attempt to blame Trump's election on something other then an electorate that was fed up with our do nothing political parties who just do the work of corporations and the wealthy. Trump won because there were just enough people who are so fed up that they pulled the lever for him.
The MSM and Trump haters do not want to face that so they continue looking for the "real" reasons Trump won like the Russians and their amazing use of social media. If the Russians are that good at manipulating opinion, every company should use them for their marketing.
4
What a soft-headed society we've become.
1
I don't look at Twitter. Do serious people actually use Twitter? I read the NYT and the WSJ. Do people really look to Twitter for news and information?
2
An enemy foreign country perpetrated an attack on the United States, using the same principals as the 9/11 attackers- use the US's freedoms against itself. In this act, thank God- mass murder did not occur. But it used our assumption of the right to free speech against us-- aided by, I'm sure it will be discovered, good old fashioned American corporate greed- how much did FB rake in for these fake, damaging ads?
1
Free speech means exactly that, no matter who is speaking it. If Americans want to remain free in speech they must be able to determine what is propaganda and what is not by themselves. Stupidity is not an excuse to stifle free speech. Because one does not agree with what is being said is no reason to prohibit someone from speaking.
1
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram - all of these 'platforms' - are addictive. Social media is a drug and coming from a country where the average number of vodka drinks, per capita, per week, is 14 (Russia), well, that says it all. This is insanity; who would want to spend their life 'trolling' social media? An alcoholic/addict. 'Insanity' in recovery is defined as, 'Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results' - well? As one prominent Twitter addict would say, " So sad." These people have a disease, they are sick and need treatment. God help us all.
While we are fighting undeclared wars from Syria to Libya all the way through to Pakistan let's scream about Russia. The funny part that we are involved all over the world from Honduras, Venezuela to Myanmar influencing their governments. How many here care about or know about our ferocious wars on people that only care about their own brand of religion?.
Unfortunately with lies and falsehoods, once they are uttered the damage is usually done. Retractions, corrections, denials all take back stage. Result? The damage is done. Republicans seem to have become masters at that art.
The Russian interference is simply a byproduct of all the lies scattered during the Obama administration. Birther? Obama is a Moslem? Just go back and think about all the damaging information circulated 10 years ago and throughout his Presidency.
3
MY GOODNESS, you New Yorkers will blame anything and anyone for your Champions defeat.
The bottom line is that Hillary was just wrong on so many levels.
5
dude, Hillary won. why can't your cohorts admit and live with that fact?
2
Whoever runs these social media companies and whoever placed profit over patriotism must be charged with treason.
Without severe accountability, their insidious behavior will become standard operating procedure.
1
"Because Twitter is open and real-time...the platform is the best antidote to misinformation, when 'journalists, experts and engaged citizens Tweet side-by-side correcting and challenging public discourse in seconds.'" And there are fabulous mountain-side cabin sites with views of pristine alpine meadows, reasonably priced within an hour's drive of Miami and free public transportation to Disneyworld in Orlando.
PT Barnum was right. More so than he ever knew.
2
The proliferation of the smartphone in the late 00s and social media are major reasons why we are here today.
Our brains have been rewired to keep browsing and surfing mindlessly. Scroll and swipe and tap... look at thousands of photos with minimal text and clickbait headlines.
Rather than shut these channels down, we need serious education reform and a huge awareness campaign. We have to teach adults and even kids (starting in high school) how to think critically, how to combat disinformation in cyberspace, and what modern tech companies can do with big data and faster processing.
Why is the testimony of Twitter executives being held in closed session? There is no sensitive national security information being shared. In fact, all the tweets to be discussed are public information that was available on Twitter for all to see!
2
An image in a future, or a very near future, would show you this: The world -- note; the whole world -- vanishes (note; completely), except the automated and self-evolving AIs. There, no life exists. There are only infinite arguments on digital messaging, again and again on air, without no human audience.
While acknowledging the seriousness of foreign money spent to influence elections, I must ask users of social networks, Do you actually read posts or feed items that are sponsored or posted by unknown entities? Seriously? I consume online media on my own terms, as much as possible, which means ignoring, skipping, and scrolling past ads as quickly as possible. I daresay that such Russian-paid ads would not have affected my vote.
The bigger problem is a shortage of analytical thinking among the electorate.
2
"Twitter functions more like a broadcast network,” she said. “People say things and everyone can hear it."
Except that in 'the old days' broadcast networks fact-checked 'the news' before repeating it, something that Karen North, social media professor, may not even remember depending on how old she is. Several generations now think that if they hear it, read it or see it on 'social media' that it is true. Shame on Twitter, shame on Facebook, shame on bald-faced lying politicians, CEOs and corporate shills and shame on us for not demanding better.
2
How do you support free speech when there are those who would use technology to subvert free speech? Is it fair and moral to spread gossip with bots in order to seek revenge? Is it legal? I was the victim of one libelous email that wreaked destruction in my life for over a decade. That email got around to lots of people inside and outside my,local government. If it had been tweeted I would have been most certainly crushed.
1
Karen North's assessment of Twitter's defense is completely disconnected from reality. Twitter is not a broadcast network and certainly doesn't function like one. The article ends with her claim that "When false information is stated, people can jump on false statements and challenge it." I don't think so Karen. Were that the case the problem would never have evolved into the crisis it has. If people are hearing or reading what they want to hear or have a pre-determined opinion of a tweet, they re-tweet it, they don't fact check it.
This absence of fact checking independently by the voters is the core of the problem. I don't want information from Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, I want my news from a media outlet who includes the sources of the information reported so I can draw my own conclusions. This morning I asked 5 people in my gated, upscale community if they knew what a continuing resolution was and how it was used. Not one could answer the question. The problem is more than half the nation has their collective faces buried in some type of small screen and no one actually reads anymore. No one is interested in facts or how things actually work. Were they aware of this it wouldn't matter what some fool posted on Twitter as the posting could immediately be written off as nonsense. We're a nation dying of ignorance. Facts matter less and less. Facebook, Twitter and the like are for fools. Try reading a book or reputable newspaper.
4
People will focus on arguments about the influence on the 2016 election. I think that's a mistake & diverts us from the more dangerous threat that social media like Twitter presents. Putin & Russia saw the potential for social manipulation & disruption within adversaries societies. This is especially true of more open & vulnerable communities like the United States and Europe. The use of Twitter, Facebook and other social media by authoritarian governments to attack democracies should concern us all regardless of political leanings. The fact that Donald Trump benefited this time isn't the point, it could just as easily be conservative targets in the future if that benefits the attacker. It's intellectually dishonest for owners and defenders of Twitter et:al to advocate otherwise. They call themselves "media", I want them accountable as such, not as a tool for anarchy & mayhem for actors like ISIS & Russia.
37
The concern over Russian meddling has been blown way out of proportion, given the manner in which corporate and 1% monies already dominate elections and legislation. Look no further than our current emphasis on killing ObamaCare, and massive tax cuts for the rich - despite bloated deficits, for documentation of this farce.
3
I’m not sure I see or understand exactly how this Twitter activity has truly “influenced” the election….any more than I understand how bumper stickers or front lawn signs “influence” an election. Speaking of front lawn signs, in late October 2016 I was really amazed at how few Clinton / Kaine signs were on display in my northeastern liberal college town neighborhood…especially as compared with the 2008 and 2012 elections. To me, a person who had lived in that neighborhood through 7 presidential elections and was actually trying to look, it definitely conveyed a lack of enthusiasm. On the other hand, was anyone else bothering to look and did it in any way “influence” anyone? Certainly didn’t make me confident of Clinton’s inevitable victory.
1
As a Twitter user, I began to post snarky comments about Trump when I realized he might actually be elected President. Three weeks later, Trump Jr. began to follow me, an alert that I was 'marked' because of my political views. Thanks to sleuths such as The Jester and Cal Naham, I learned about bots last spring. Now I routinely vet my 'followers,' ruthlessly blocking suspected bots.
32
Gotta block dissenting voices. Sound legit.
Writing a note with Twitter ( don't use it) is a competitive sport now, "blocking and vetting" with bots and watching Jr. follow you......... ?
I keep dreaming that this ugly family "The Trumps" are a cartoon from Hollywood producers and when I wake up , they'll be gone...........
1
if Putin wants to darken the image of the US, reprinting of this article will do. First of all, this article suggests the danger of social networks, basically providing the excuse for shutting down or censoring the social net work. Second, it suggests that discussion of flaws of American politicians or some aspects of Government policy is anti-American. That demonstrates that the American media wants to silence the critics. Hardly a shining example of Democracy.
8
When lies inflict or incite direct harm on our society, they should be considered criminal acts, pursuant to fire-in-a-crowded-theater limits on free speech. This premise should obtain with respect not only to social media, but to anyone - especially high-profile individuals whose statements are amplified by their notoriety - who knowingly lies with the motive of trying to influence or toxify our political process. And politicians and others in public service roles should be held to even higher standards, as far as that goes.
All of this can be combated by an educated public where people think for themselves. Of course, nobody in Washington wants that.
9
The larger issue is digital sovereignty and the rules of cyber warfare. We have land, air, and sea boundaries that are defined by international treaties and that are enforced by the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Patrol, etc. but we don't have any treaties that define international boundaries online and what constitutes an act of war online.
American needs to be engaging the entire world, Russia included, to discuss how we can get a handle on this and what are the rules we would like to play by and start drafting treaties on this. Otherwise I believe bad things will happen.
3
Twitter and Facebook -- We are finally on the right track to understanding how propaganda delivered via social media can influence the readers. Because this is what is being done. Old tactic, new delivery system. Multiple tweets and posts from the same sources sending the same message over and over again will influence how people think, I am sure of it.
To me, it does not matter who is sending the message, be it Russians, Americans or the Easter bunny. What is important is the delivery system. I think this tactic needs to be further analyzed and understood so it can be blunted and or stopped.
Twitter may have been used more extensively by the Russians than Facebook to try to influence the election. However, most low-information voters (many in my family included), who voted for Trump, don't have Twitter accts. and or have no idea how Twitter works. Facebook and Fox News are where the Trump voters received their information.
8
Any complex system is easier to destroy than to build or maintain. Democractic government is a complex system. Internet mogols who protest they are neutral amplifiers of free speech, and that yet more free speech is the only antidote for untrue, hateful, or destructrive free speech, either have their heads where the moon don't shine, or if one assumes they have a modicum of intelligence about their own business, are culpable for the rapid erosion of democracy in the US.
If free speech were 5% poison, and 95% truth, neutral amplification of such speech would still ruin any book, any reputation, any society.
Your freedom ENDS where mine begins. We have a right to expect the internet that our children freely use to be safe, just like we expect the government to install traffic signs, stop lights, and sidewalks.
You do NOT have the right to impinge on my rights. If the speech you wish to make is harmful and destructive to our society as a whole or to other individuals, you should do time for your crime just as surely as if you destroyed property, or assaulted a child.
The First Ammendment is not a free pass for irresponsible action. When one is shouting down other voices with bots and tweeter/facebook amplification, you have exceeded your basic '1 person 1 vote' right to SPEAK freely. You have commenced ACTING to suppress other's freedom to speak. You have begun to subvert democracy. You need to be legally culpable for every harmful effect of such actions.
9
There continues to be little substantive discussion regarding the emotional impact of social media. Short messages like "tweets" may strongly influence emotional learning. Remember Trump Tweets about imminently qualified candidates during the primary season? When a person hears one of these names, does the memory of that time immediately go to the "tweet" or "slogan" associated with that individual? Are "tweets" simply commercial messages, or is there believable content? It seems to be all emotion, and once emotions are associated with someone, or thing, they are difficult to change. Are we thus being "brainwashed" by foreign operatives? What "slogans" do Trump supporters hear in their heads, slogans which block reality?
3
The issue is when the rational are drowned out, overwhelmed by the false and fake. And when you have hundreds or thousands of bots amplifying a false or divisive message, it can and did happen easily.
Twitter needs to fundamentally examine what it does and how it does it. Staus quo is not acceptable.
3
Russia walks right in an open society preying on our first amendment right with the help of many professional traitors who provided valuable insights of our weakness for exploitation in all social networks. In order to gauge the influence of Russia penetration, it would be interesting to find out how many retweets and likes under @RealDonaldTrump account came directly from overseas accounts by countries and how many fake accounts were masqueraded to be genuine domestic accounts for those retweets and likes.
3
This is Twitter's own fault. It has a verified user system, yet it withholds this from most of its users, leaving many legitimate users swimming with the sharks. The Twitter elite consisting of mainly media and entertainment personalities get the blue check mark while legitimate organizations are told they don't meet the criteria. In other words, you're not important enough. Open up the verification system Twitter...in fact charge a modest fee for it...and many of these fake accounts will be exposed or ignored as they should be. Stop creating a class system in social media of the privileged versus the plebeian and help distinguish the real from the fake.
1
One problem is that the middle-ground on Twitter stops speaking, because these fake accounts prompt real rebuttals that are equal in volume, so the whole thing becomes an echo of screams. There is a silent majority nowadays that occupy the middle and is increasingly afraid to speak.
1
If the likes of Facebook, Twitter, et al influences the decision making process for the voting public, Giod help us all! The most disturbing trend in America is the lack of engagement in the political process. The percentage of registered voters that sit on their hands and refuse to vote is appalling . Those who can find the time to rally and protest but not to vote should be quite and go back to sitting on the couch and channel surf!
“It’s about creating societal division, identifying divisive issues and fanning the flames.”
The focus now is on the fringes but the mainstream media does this every day because friction sells advertising. Apparently it's ok to exasperate divisions in the name of profit but criminal if done on purely ideological grounds.
4
If Russia's goal in maintaining a large body of trolls, caches of bot-controlled Twitter &/or Facebook accounts to forment division, fan the flames of opposing views on controversial issues (and then, seemingly, to toss some gasoline over the flames, just for good measure), it's been remarkably successful and it might go some way to explaining the rapid descent into ugliness of our political discourse and the growth of hyper-partisanship and rejection of compromise.
We have a problem in confronting this toxic force in our midst with a person at the helm whose ego is so large that only forces that are explicitly adoring are given credence and/or support and so brittle that any investigation-much less serious sanction- of Russia is seen as devastating and unacceptable personal attack which must be resisted and repelled by any means necessary, never mind if the nation burns up while he's putting band-aids on his wounded psych.
4
Twitter is so biased. My account was closed because I supported something Donald Trump said. That was it... and I did not violate any terms of use policy. I've seen this happen to others too. Criticism of Islamic policies is not permitted, criticism of Islamic terrorists is not permitted, praise of trumps ideas is not permitted. Whose side is twitter on?
3
Trump said Russian interference in the election is a hoax. He has tweeted it a lot , and as President, he would never lie to us.
1
i would imagine that the uninformed voter who doesn't have the time to consume "real" news and who gets most of his/her information from these "social" websites are in the younger demographic that leans left. If that's so, how did this help republicans?
Time to close up shop on FB and Twitter. Both sites have worked on behalf of the Russians in attacking the Ukraine and our once functioning democracy. I had much deeper relationships with people “back in the day,” when I picked up a phone and called a friend and chatted. I wonder what rabbit-holes I was sent down, a very discomfiting idea. I am so weary of the daily corporate malfeasance that goes unchecked in this country.
1
I suspect many of the chat comments in the sidebar of Google's Youtube news are also fake, designed to spread racism, sexism, and religious intolerance. It was very bad during Hurricane Harvey news. A commenter ran a message several times instructing viewers to report the abuse by using the three buttons at the side of the comment. Reporting misuse seems to help.
1
Many articles and comments here are really worried about foreign ads and messages. They are worried how they are influencing the voting population and changing elections. The solution being suggested is to control what information gets published (something countries like China and Russia do). It is insisted by commentators that everybody listen only to their favored messenger. And anyone who disagrees with them be censored.
However no question is being asked as to why people are not listening to the publishing of the MSM. It is being inferred that this is due to people being bigots. The credibility of the MSM is not being questioned. Why ? How is the question not being asked to why there are people who prefer not to get their information from these "trusted" publications ? Do the actions of MSM over the last 2 decades provide any reason to have any confidence in their actions ? What if the MSM is doing the very thing these alternate sources of news are purportedly doing - such as publishing false information ? From the Iraq WMD stories to the bias in the latest (and almost every) election, there are so many examples of this resulting in lack of credibility of the MSM as an independent and reliable source of information.
4
This continuation is really quite disturbing .... that I blame on the current resident of the White House ..... it is time to make Vladimir Putin pay a severe price for this behavior.
He is unchecked and unpunished. He will continue until he rips this nation apart. He doesn't need to spend billions and billions on military hardware. He just needs to prove that democracy is a farce and that no democracy has any moral or practical grounds to criticize his Kleptocracy. And, part of his goal is to demonstrate to the Russian people and the World that there is no better alternative than his form of rule.
3
I have been calling the social media asocial media because they give everybody a platform to spread and share points of view irrespective of whether those are true and harmless or lies and intentionally damaging with theoretically unlimited reach. The practices of the Russian government confirm this. It is time to hold the owners and profiteers of these social media accountable for the content - just as we do with conventional media, obviously within the framework of the 1. amendment.
41
Verifiable identities that are public. If you don't stand by your information with your reputation, why should you get a public forum?
Facebook and Twitter have a structural problem. They constitute a worldwide network that is open to almost everyone who speaks English. But there can be no question about it that the users of Facebook and Twitter produce primarily bubbles of informations and opinions and that they are, by their very nature, not open for corrections, true intellectual exchange or corrections through facts. They are basically autistic. In addition to that there is the technical possibilty of bots which is not yet really dealt with efficently. There is no doubt that Russians made use of these questionable sides of Twitter and Facebook. But there was and is also an American, quasi homegrown side to it. I read that 3 million follwers of Hillary Clinton during her campaign were also not real persons but bots too. And do not forget Steve Bannon and company who advocate and produce fake news in order to topple the allegedly corrupt US establishment. To blame it all on Putin is too easy and does not understand the dangers of this new digital world. I can only recommend Jim Rutenberg's article in the NYT on the information war that exists between the US and Russia.
30
" I read that 3 million follwers of Hillary Clinton during her campaign were also not real persons but bots too." Did you fact check this, or are you merely repeating something that you saw on the Internet? #partoftheproblem
4
"I read that 3 million follwers [sic] of Hillary Clinton during her campaign were also not real persons but bots too."
Pray, tell, where did you come by that jewel?
2
For example according to a study of Oxford University and the University of Washington that shows that every third Twitter supporter of Donald Trump and every fifth Twitter supporter of Hillary Clinton during their first debate were not real persons but bots "The pro-Clinton camp increased their use of highly automated accounts over the course of the campaign period but never reached the level of automation behind the pro-Trump traffic, says the research."
1
Twitter reminds us that it's easier to change the world than to make it better. They achieved the business holy grail of disruption. Big time.
We should not have needed the reminder that disruption for its own sake, or simply for profit, is no virtue. But we did -- and do.
1
Wonderful. Putin is furious at pro democracy protests inspired, he believes, by Hillary Clinton and the upshot is increased support for Trumpsters, led by a liar who fashions his lies on the Russian model.
Twitter might be able to eliminate accounts, but it cannot eliminate the credulity of the witless. They believe what they want to hear, encouraged in this country by the impostor President who cites false reports all the time as his sources of news.
And they do not read anything much longer than 140 characters.
I always remain concerned about government and intelligence engagement in our communications and social media. However, it is clear that the commercial companies hosting these media don't have a clue how to control or moderate them for external interference or, for that matter, incitement and recruiting by groups like ISIS. There needs to be some kind of independent group that bridges between the commercial entities and intelligence agencies to address and assess this in a practical, ethical and effective way. We can't allow this negative and dangerous use of social media to continue.
Foreign governments pay money to US lobbyists who then make campaign donations to congressman. How about stopping that congress. But no let's look at this vague notion that Facebook and twitter influenced the election.
8
What an idiotic viewpoint - doesn't speak well about a certain percentage of the electorate that favors misinformation over facts.
Putin has achieved his goal. Not only had he settled a score with Hillary Clinton, whom he blames for formenting trouble in Russia and its backyard, he helped elect Trump. Although his stooge hasn't been able to do his bidding, like resetting the button and lifting sanctions etc. But Trump has certainly all it takes to "darken the image of the United States, making it a less attractive model for other countries and reducing its international influence."
Facebook and Twitter should donate part of its gains to Ukraine as an atonement for being weaponised as a political tool in last year's election.
14
“Twitter functions more like a broadcast network,” she said. “People say things and everyone can hear it. When false information is stated, people can jump on false statements and challenge it.”
That is a very naïve point of view while we live in a nation where common sense is not so common, where fake news, even from alleged authoritative sources, is common, and where there is a large mass of unsophisticated and/or undereducated users of social media.
The developers and owners of social media have a social and moral responsibility to their participants, which they refuse to accept under the guise of privacy and freedom of speech concerns. They need to be regulated.
12
"Colin Crowell, Twitter’s vice president of public policy, government and philanthropy, said in a blog post in June that the company should not be an arbiter of whether a tweet is truthful or not." In essence, Mr. Crowell is admitting that Twitter is willing to serve as a conduit of lies. No better that Faux News and Breitbart. Ready and willing to be an accomplice to make a buck.
27
I agree Ann, Twitter can at the very least verify the identities of the accounts and the people behind them, so we can shut them down.
As for Twitter's defense that it should not interfere with false information because that is the job of those like "journalists, experts and engaged citizens Tweet side-by-side correcting and challenging public discourse in seconds," this would imply that it is policing the validity of all account holders.
Since Twitter is not verifying the legitimacy of accounts, then it is liable for those who are not interested in public discourse but instead public manipulation, propaganda and disruption of the society and free election process.
It is high time that Twitter along with other social media and mainstream media get together and hammer out modern FAIRNESS DOCTRINE standards.
Since Reagan removed the original Fairness Doctrine in 1986, we have seen the rise of Fox propaganda and manipulation of the public mind. Media consumers were formerly used to trusting journalists under the Doctrine who adhered to factual reporting without resorting to false equivalency, teasers and shallow entertainment values.
21
1} Would the MSM be similarly liable for its lies such as the Iraq WMD ?
2} Would the MSM be liable for " public manipulation, propaganda and disruption of the society and free election process "
- like giving billions of dollars free ad to Trump but not an iota to
Bernie Sanders ?
- Like aligning with the establishment with highly biased broadcasts
to try to defeat DJT ?
What is the liability and how would it square with the freedom of expression and freedom of press and other constitutional provisions ?
You can include most cable media as well... MSNBC and CNN have followed in FOX's footsteps
Whatever the intent it's still the Russian ingenuity, however ill motivated, that it could claim better mastery over the use of tech tools like the Google, Facebook,Twitter innovated and marketed from the US soil. Again, there's no question of supporting the Russian undermining of the US democratic exercise, which was deplorable, but still the whole issue warrants serious accountability fixing from the US security/intelligence establishment as also from the social media sites under the scanner, and future preparedness for such intruding espionage.
9
It's not Russian mastery as much as it's America's deplorable electoral systems and the increasing willingness of people to become Archie Bunker types who sit at home or work, screaming for death to those disliked by their news feed. Sucking the pap of whatever media suits their political taste of the moment. In Russia, (or China), all of the people must still, after the end of their Communist impoverishment,still must obey their masters. We have no masters because we think ourselves better than all others. The Russo-Chinese are ruled by those with the biggest and heaviest iron fists. We are governed badly or not at all and claim to be proud of it-as long as we get to crow and shout, while wearing a holstered pistol. Only the children and dumb cops use our guns-the Russkis and others of like mind prefer the subtlety of the poison pen letter. Almost exactly like the Germans and the British, too. Nothing has changed since the Civil War. . .
Many people here are claiming that Twitter is not the problem, but that is really the same as saying that heroin is not the problem with drug addiction, or that guns are not the problem with America's appalling gun death rate. In all three cases the problem is that people are not all equipped to responsibly handle heroin, guns, or Twitter, and the government needs to step in an enforce controls to make up for this deficiency within ourselves.
People are not going to change, they will continue to swallow the endless stream of noise that comes out of social media, and since many people cannot distinguish truth from fiction, Twitter and Facebook need to step up and do it for their audiences. The problem is squarely in the laps of social media to clean up their platforms.
21
"the government needs to step in an enforce controls to make up for this deficiency within ourselves."
The Government is equally deficient.
It is made up of people too.
The only way the Government should step in is by allocating enough money to education so everyone has a real education and by that I mean that people are taught how think critically not just spoon fed 'information' and made to memorize.
Teachers should be afforded a comfortable living wage and held to a high standard. They are responsible for guiding and educating future generations.
Kudos to the former Soviets nka Russians who have conquered America with their cyberattack abilities on these sites, with the ability to damage our democracy beyond repair. When will we, if ever, have the ability to counter them?
7
Twitter is not the problem; it is merely the surface manifestation of a fundamental disease. It is not different from Facebook, Wells Fargo, Equifax, Bank of America, Google, or any other large corporation. They have no allegiance to America, its values, or its people. Their allegiance is solely to profit, a portion of which goes to hire marketing firms, lobbyists, lawyers, and spin doctors to pretend their motives are noble.
However, the important thing to remember is that corporations do not make decisions; people do. Unless and until those people at the top are held accountable, with criminal trials and serious jail time when appropriate, nothing will change, fines and such simply written off as the cost of doing business.
Meanwhile, there is one thing we all can do while not holding our breaths waiting for government action: we can stop pretending anything on the internet is or can ever be private, safe, or reliable. And then we can act accordingly. We can stop believing things online just because they reinforce what we already believe, what we hope will be, or what we fear. We can stop pretending every new gadget represents progress. The F.D.A. recently had a recall because even cardiac pacemakers can be hacked. Think what will happen if drones and self-driving cars are turned loose.
Disinformation as a political and military tactic was not invented by the internet. The internet merely makes it easier for people to find others who share their illusions.
19
We are all subject to the powers of suggestion. Raised eyebrows about a co-worker can be devastating but factually irrelevant. Twitter and FB are all about hysterical "raised eyebrows". If there's a suspicion of criminality then it must be true. Not sure where this ends but hope all of us - Left/Right/Center/Other can come together especially in light of this admin.
14
There is one thing we all can do while not holding our breaths waiting for government action: we can stop pretending anything on the internet is or can be private, safe, or reliable, and then acting accordingly. We can stop believing things online just because they reinforce what we already believe or fear. We can stop pretending every new gadget represents progress. The F.D.A. recently had a recall because even cardiac pacemakers can be hacked. Think what will happen if drones and self-driving cars are turned loose.
Twitter is no different from Facebook, Wells Fargo, Equifax, Bank of America, Google, or any other large corporation. They have no allegiance to America, its values, or its people. Their allegiance is solely to profit, a portion of which goes to hire marketing firms, lobbyists, lawyers, and spin doctors to pretend their motives are noble.
However, the important thing to remember is that corporations do not make decisions; people do. Unless and until those people at the top are held accountable, with criminal trials and serious jail time when appropriate, nothing will change, fines and such simply written off as the cost of doing business.
Twitter is not the problem; it is merely the surface manifestation of a fundamental disease.
26
Forget The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! Instantaneous communication via tweet is both the opiate and the bane of our era. We unburden ourselves, therefore we are. Rousseau, who never even read a tweet, said if we could only see into the hearts of our fellow man, we'd be more inclined to descend than to rise. Theory confirmed.
86
How interesting ..... I missed that little comment by Rousseau ... shouldn't be surprised though ... What a dark thought. (I am terrified at the thought he might be basically right).
1
Instead of trying to break America down with disinformation campaigns, Putin should expand efforts to build his own country up. Or is that a thankless and hopeless task?
3
Just as in personal relationships, there are those whose souls are dark enough to gain more pleasure and satisfaction from seeing how effectively they can bring other nations down than in building and strengthening those around them. A character like Putin may well see equals or superiors as insufferable threats made only tolerable when they're brought down to a position of power that's a least one rung down the ladder than he perceives himself to be at.
4
It doesn’t do any good to report a problem if a platform like Twitter or Facebook does nothing about it. Report away on a racist, Russian bot, or scam ad. The report drops into a deep cave somewhere in another dimension..Social networking is a honey trap set up to lure consumers and advertisers.
18
So tell me what the Russians could have come up that was not already being bandied about on both sides? Both sides felt the need to spread any unsubstantiated claim endlessly on social media. This is much ado about nothing.
10
Both sides? Equally? This is a very asymmetrical problem.
2
Exactly. What do people think happens in those Clinton "War Rooms"? And several of the Russians' actions could have come right out of our beloved Obama's political playbook. (He was a masterful politician.)
The Russians played politics just like our own politicians. If their actions are not recognizable, Americans aren't paying attention.
5
That isn't really true. "Both sides" did not target, for example, Hillary Clinton and subject her to inquisitions, falsehoods, lies, rumors and truly foul innuendo for decades. "Both sides" don't fight science. "Both sides" aren't trying to destroy public education and stir up hatred against "the other," against immigrants, minorities, women, the gay community, people of color.
"Both sides" are not out there with Nazi flags or Confederate battle flags or both, and "both sides" don't try to excuse slavery or make it sound like a good deal with free room and board, or describe the Civil War in terms of "states rights" and ignore what right those states were looking to enshrine and spread into the West.
This is NOT much ado about nothing. Social media has been weaponized primarily by the far Right, and racism, misogyny, fear of modern times and progress, hatred of "the other" and of independent women was echoed by Russian propaganda.
That propaganda wouldn't have been so effective had it not paralleled the fault lines in our society, the stubborn persistence of racism, and the resentment of less well educated white voters, men in particular, who feel threatened by change.
It's also true that the Left was targeted by Russia AND by the Right during the last election, driving wedges between supporters of Bernie Sanders and the majority who voted for Hillary Clinton.
That helped suppress the vote, encourage tens of thousands of others to vote third party, etc.
2
Jill Stein, Green Party, had dinner with Michael Flynn and Vladimir Putin in Moscow, December 2015.
Russia sponsored pro-Stein commercials on Facebook (and probably Twitter).
If Stein voters in Michigan had voted for Clinton, Clinton would have won the state.
Did Stein collaborate with Russia too?
22
This article is about an investigation showing that Russia was heavily involved in attempts to damage the international prestige of the U.S. and to influence U.S> voters' perceptions of the their government and political candidates for office. This article is not about any possible collusion between Trump's campaign for the Presidency and these Russian efforts.
So ... the question is: Why do you introduce here a non-sequitur .... a red herring .... a distraction from the focus of the article? What is your purpose here?
Social media + uninformed populace = disaster.
18
Why did Jill Stein have dinner with Putin and Mike Flynn in Moscow? What was the real reason for that?
Was Jill Stein's candidacy - which included lots of crackpot policies on things like vaccines - just one more attempt by Moscow to throw our election to Trump?
We are now seeing evidence there was Russian interference in our election thru twitter, FaceBook and other entities. Did the Russians exercise their influence in 2 campaigns - Donald Trump and Jill Stein?
Were Bernie and Hillary the only legitimate candidates in 2016?
What a disaster. This looks like a fraudulent election. Not an election where Russia had 'influence.' It looks more and more like Russia, through subterfuge, took actions that determined the outcome - the election of Donald Trump. Or more specifically, the defeat of Hillary Clinton by any means necessary......
16
Did russia interfere? Of course they did. They have been doing it for years and we do it to other countries. The real question was always was their collusion and that answer is no.
7
There are at least three "real" questions, not one:
1. Was there collusion? And the answer to this is 'we don't know yet'.
2. Did Russia interfere? Yes. It looks like they interfered more broadly and more deeply than previously known by most Americans.
3. Does the well-known history of US interference in the electoral outcomes of other nations imply that Americans should shrug our shoulders in disinterest at these revelations of Russia's successful interference? No, we should be as outraged as citizens of other nations have been at our interference and take immediate and effective steps to prevent such interference in the future.
12
I think if they dig deeper it will show collusion between Trump and Twitter and the Russians! Twitter was losing its luster before Mr. President started using it as his defacto platform. I think Twitter, Trump and the Russians are working together and clearly against America as a united nation.
8
Guess thats why Twitter just doubled its Tweeting capacity...the Russian bots needed more room for their English translations.
10
Twitter's narcissistic argument (Tweets as "best antidote to misinformation") is naive or cynical, and Professor North's defense of it lame or taken out of context. The ratio of bots to fact-checking humans can easily overwhelm any attempts to sort out truth from propaganda. Twitter and other social media powerhouses need to figure out how to filter out disinformation campaigns and other fake users. No amount of 140-character infotainment (#covfefe) is worth creating a back door for Russian spies and internet trolls.
5
In my opinion, the only we wall we need would be to keep these fake accounts on FB and Twitter out of our affairs!
10
During the 2016 campaign, Mexican arbitrageurs had to prop up the peso because of Trump's tweets about Mexican immigrants, building a wall, etc. Some arbitrageurs at the time joked that it would be cheaper to buy Twitter and then shut it down. I wish they had.
8
America's insatiable appetite for instant gratification from clicks on social media are responsible for the mess that was last years campaign.
Russia has been using its tricks on this arena for years, but to imagine Putin smiling as he signed whatever passes for an executive order is easy.
Somehow, I have little faith that Congress will spend the money to fix this given how greatly they benefitted from Russian meddling.
Did anyone ever imagine that social media would be our undoing? Or that so many American would place more trust in Facebook or Twitter than they do easily verifiable sources of mainstream media?
98
Yes, I did.
I often don't read Facebook and generally trash twitter. It takes too much time to sort the rubbish from anything that might be real and vaguely truthful.
Bother become a plague on society.
If only the mainstream media had not so severely discredited itself by being partisan in the last election. From Donna Brazile to Rachel Maddow to NYT itself, the bias was obvious. If only they had more credibility people would have turned to them instead of the social media.
You are always spot on!
To say that Twitter is like a broadcast network is a very poor analogy. A broadcast network is an entity with commercial interests in maintaining a good reputation for veracity, while a Twitterer is simply an individual unaccountable for any disinformation the individual might promote.
46
A broadcast network is also subject to federal regulations.
4
The simple answer is for everyone to question what they read and be discerning about their sources of information. Democracy only works if the populace is educated in how to critically read, discern, sort sources, and make informed decisions. The key is to beef up education in the U.S. Make the citizenry able to separate the chaff from the wheat or able to decipher what is real news, what is propaganda, or what is truth or falsehood disseminated via Twitter, Facebook, TV, or in a local rag.
78
All those solutions are actually super complicated to execute and the payoff doesn’t come for 30years when kids born today become actual adults. And believe it or not, not everyone agrees that we need to be educating our kids better. There are major forces aligned against that exact thing.
I’m all for those things, but we need some solutions for today’s actual world too.
17
In July, I wrote a personal letter to Jack Dorsey appealing to him to suspend President Trump's Twitter account for the duration of his term in office. No response to date.
I think Trump, fake news, etc. are simply too big a part of Twitter's (and Facebook's, and ) bottom line for them to act as responsible corporate citizens.
96
There are some who believe if it is on the internet it is true. About myself if is in the least part odd I look at it harder much harder if I think it may be true.
We are in a cold war again like with the USSR but the enemy is Russia this time, like there is a difference, and that is they are not as ham-fisted now.
12
Because we can definitely trust the government. As well as the media. And the Democratic party.
10
Yes. At least more than we can trust the Russian government and Russian media.
1
Using Twitter should involve establishing that the tweeter is not a bot --using "captcha" challenge-response to establish legitimacy just as so many other sites do.
14
The Russians using social media to influence the election was similar to what the terrorists did on 9/11. They both attacked us with our own infrastructure, and once again the attack came with an approach for which we were not prepared.
247
Yes, because saying some things you don't like on the Internet is similar to murdering 3,000 people.
10
If it results in nuclear or other war, then it may well cause alot more damage than did the 9/11 attacks.
Thomas L. Knapp:
To the left, losing an election to Trump is probably worse. Just look at how they've responded, which is with far more outrage than they've reacted to Muslim terrorism and the events or 9/11.
Very sad.
I keep wondering if High Technology is a blessing or a curse. Pardon me if I favor the latter.
11
And yet, you are only to share your opinion BECAUSE of "High Technology".
Please feel free to boycott the internet.
3
Okay, folks. Repeat it after me. If you read it only on the internet it has a good chance of being false.
12
Radio Free Europe received over $100 million in FY 2016 from US Congress. How was that money used?
19
Karen North, quoted in the final paragraph, sounds clueless about the effect of bots on the integrity of broadcast information.
8
Aha! Social media has degraded from mere narcissism to Pollyannish treason.
For all their brilliance, should not Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and Jack Dorsey have foreseen the potentiality for tremendous damage to the United States of America?
I guess at Harvard and NYU they were not paying attention in sociology class the day the professor discussed mob rule.
It makes you think that we in the digital age are like dinosaurs unawares of an asteroid headed straight for us. Our society is in danger of collapse and we know not why.
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
Defriend me.
25
Anyone else find it curious how The Donald has 100mm followers on social media?
Now we can wonder how many of them can actually fog a mirror...
123
Half of those "followers" have already been determined to be fake. Bots.
There is a recent article about that.
9
can trump even fog a mirror... I love your comment
Depending upon your point of view, Twitter continues to be used to spread Russian propaganda and it's coming directly from the official and personal accounts of the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.
27
Even stronger and more severe sanctions must be imposed on Russia. I would suggest all travel be barred to the US except for medical purposes....and more importantly, SWIFT, the international method of wiring money around the world should be closed to all Russians.
New York Times..Please look into this topic..the SWIFT issue as a sanction and report on the consequences of such an action.
8
I don't support blanket prohibitions on entry to the U.S. of all citizens of a whole nation but, if we are going down that route, wouldn't Russia logically be first on the list after Saudi Arabla?
I sure hope we have a good spy working for us in the Russian intelligence committee. We should try to get former Soviet satellite countries to secede. Wait, they already did. All on their own.
5
How do I get an annulment and divorce Trump? America.
8
You should have insisted a prenup.
1
Twitter is the barstool next to you. Sometimes a friend sits on it. Sometimes the town drunk sits on it.
Sometimes your friend is the town drunk.
201
Yes, that is why we need rules.
And, sometimes all the fools in town are on our-your-their side.
Perhaps you should consider leaving the bar, buying some beer and a newspaper, and go home.
Birtherism, Benghazi, Anifata, the NFL controversy, heightening racial tensions are are topics that Fox News endlessly promotes 24 hours a day.
When will Rupert Murdoch testify in front of the senate intelligence committee?
96
reply to DSS washington
Please include Stephen Bannon and Breitbart in that as well (testifying in front of the senate intelligence committee, and other organizations as well).
1
Trump consulted Murdoch on who to pick to head the S.E.C. Of course, the S.E.C. oversees Fox News. Ivanka Trump was a trustee of ex-Murdoch wife Wendy Deng and kids' trust until she stepped down recently. We can hope the Senate finds its backbone but this horse left the barn a long time ago. The way to go after Murdoch's Fox News is to put pressure on advertisers.
That bots and "paid posters" exist isn't new or controversial. The question is how influential they actually are. It should be possible to do an analysis of followers, likes, retweets to see the extent of their influence.
The reason I am skeptical and think this is mostly fear mongering is domestic political sites already do a great job finding controversy and conspiracy where there is little or none. Echo chambers, tribal animus, motivated reasoning are sufficient.
The non stop Russia on MSNBC is the left version of that. They might have better fact checkers than Breitbart and yet they are missing proportionality in the same way Hilary's emails were used on the other side in the lead up to the election. Scoring points for the home team and courting outrage does pay the bills but we won't hear much about that unless it's regarding "fake news" sites. Nope, the mainstream media can't be part of the problem.
13
I am so confused by all of this. I hope Mueller can straighten it out.
I am offended and furious at Russia's attempts to interfere with our election.
But there are stupid and divisive tweets everyday (see POTUS).
Why would tweets on both sides of an issue from Russia have any more influence than all the thousands and thousands of other tweets that say much the same on either side?
10
Many of these fake posts were retweeted, or the facebook ads reposted. The trump supporters' campaign staff and trump himself distributed them, and possibly coordinated the time a place these ads were used.
5
Twitter's statement that "journalists, experts and engaged citizens" should correct and challenge false tweets is simply a disingenuous attempt to pass the cost of dealing with the problem on to the public. Are those journalists and experts that Twitter is calling on to perform this duty going to be paid for spending hours every day monitoring thousands of tweets? Might be better to just make all users register, especially anyone sending out automated messages. I'm sure anyone with a legitimate reason to do that would be happy to verify their identity.
341
Time for some S.E.C. oversight and regulations, yes?
1
Identity verification is a step toward a police state. Like another commenter said, the better solution is that we educate ourselves, and exercise responsibility.
The more noise Twitter can generate on its platform, the more data they can monetize. Social media platforms' material interests diverge from their users.
This too will be part of the plot! Of course the Russians assume that we are going to investigate all of these transgressions. And there will be a false antidote for this as well. People like Manafort will fall. And some others as well. Trump will come out unscathed, alas. And the democracy that we have all been brought up on will have received a lethal shot to the bow. The question is, what will be the antidote to the antidote? If Twitter falls, or Facebook, and thus Free Speech, there will be others all decrying transparency' and 'truth'. The joke is no one will believe anything anymore, and the fomenting of hatred and scapegoats will be the norm. All part of the Plan. Poor us!
7
Russia is achieving by stealth and non-violence in our country what it could not after the ruins of WWII.
Nikita Khruschchev famously promised (1956) "we will bury you." The panic that accompanied the Russian premier's bold assertion reverberated across America for generations, long after he melted before JFK's stern warning about the Russian missile fields in Cuba.
Now, with social media his useful tool, Vladimir Putin has been able to manipulate American elections and public opinion. When a foreign power can instigate civil disorder by employing hashtags to set one segment of American society against other--politically, racially, socially--then we deserve the coming endgame that is being played out upon us.
It's almost immaterial now that Donald Trump was elected by Russia's designs upon our democracy. Putin has cunningly fitted the pieces of the puzzle together in such a way as to allow the multiple fluid situation(s) that his intelligence community's enterprising destabilization of foreign governments to develop and enjoy the chess game that they're handily winning at our expense.
Trump's supporters haven't the smallest idea that they are the lubrication that is responsible for the humming seamless way in which Russian ways threaten to become so much a part of America--and in just a year! A responsible president (let's not even imagine an engaged, determined Congress) would have made every attempt to mine the depths of Russia's subterfuges.
Isn't America great?
25
The Russian attack against our democracy continues, and this pretender President Is still denying that it is happening. Republicans, which by definition means Trump and his racist supporters, had better quickly decide if they are serious about protecting America. By focusing on so many divisive side issues which inflame American animosities, Trump has proven so adept at diverting attention away from this enemy assault that one has to wonder whether the collusion is still under way. Is it really coincidental that the tactics used by Trump is so incredibly synergistic with the Russian assaults? The answer is clear. Treason.
10
It is so important to convince as many citizens as possible about the extent to which the Russian have infected America and many other countries' democratic systems and fomented civil unrest through lies and the many ways in which Russians are able to wage such a corrupting cyber war.
Make no mistake. We are at war in the 21st century. And right now, it looks like the Russians are winning.
9
I secured several accounts on both platforms when they first became public. When people from my past I thought I had left behind started finding me on Facebook, I quit. I still have a stealth account under a false name with all settings set to "private" that I use when I absolutely need to access the site but it's targeted and brief access with no "liking", posting, or requests to follow/be followed. Same with Twitter. In fact, I do visit Twitter far more often for specific subjects I'm interested in as they unfold in real time but I never sign in anymore. I just hit "close" each time the "join Twitter" ad pops up and continue reading without ever logging in. Social media is interesting and useful in limited and targeted ways but to live your life on those platforms and to make political decisions based solely on what's found on those platforms is foolish and self-destructive, both to self and society at large. This article just proved it.
25
we also need to focus on the lack of critical thinking skills that allowed any portion of the electorate to be swayed by the propaganda. schools don't teach this anymore. people are lazy.
11
The question is not so much how Russia got so adept at this stuff. They have always been so. It's how on earth Americans allowed themselves to be rendered so gullible. If a free society ever had an Achilles' heel...
23
Looking at these articles and comments, Its almost as if the Establishment candidate did not have resources to counter these or have advertisements of their own.
They had the Main stream media, mega corporations, Hollywood, on their side and yes, access to Twitter , FB and youtube and every possible advantage over the candidate the establishment was running against. All of this formidable resources with their overt bias giving a strong and undue advantage to the establishment candidate. Yet - you are on about Russia. The truth is the establishment lost despite deploying all their tricks, and using disproportional advantage and unmatched resources to go against their opponent. And now they complain about what is basically advertisement - can you believe it ?
13
What are they investigating ? What if Russians setup FB or Twitter accounts ? Is congress going to legislate that Social media sites not permit this ? Is that in keeping with the constitution and essence of the USA ? A comment suggesting shutting these websites has been recommended by many - but shutting is not in keeping with American constitution. Do you know who shuts websites that are challenge to the ruling elite ? China does. North Korea does. And ironically Russia does this the same. Also, there is no scientific proof that these ads or accounts swayed anyone. And even if it did, they are free to do so as per American constitution. The shutting of these or censoring content will be akin to China censoring content claiming American propaganda or something like that. I just dont understand what the issue. Simply put - somebody put information out there. That is all that happened. If you want to censor what Americans can read with a supposition that they are stupid and make incorrect decisions is unconstitutional. If someone wants to be stupid and vote stupid, they have a right to do it.
11
Defending the guarantee of free speech to a hostile foreign power is naive at best. Efforts intended to undermine and manipulate the public trust and destabilize elections, whether successful or not, rightly deserve to be not be taken lightly and dismissed so cavalierly. That is to say, I reject the bots argument.
I received a similar comment earlier - let us be clear on this - it is not the free speech of a foreign power that is being defended in the comment I wrote. It is the right of Americans to not be subjekt to censorship of their information sources.
We celebrate the global dominance of our tech companies - Twitter, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple - and now, we are surprised that 470 Facebook pages out of 2 billion active users each month are fake and linked to Russia?
What do the Dems want? No bad apples, no bad actors, worldwide? Please.
We can't have it both ways. These tech giants have helped bring positive change - just look at how Saudi Arabia yesterday legalized driving for women - so there will always be a few who will use the same platforms for dubious purposes. If this is the best we've uncovered about our Russia investigation and call it a breaking news story, something is wrong.
5
i'm just dying to see some of the offending messages.
I use Twitter, not FB.
I want to know if I saw, and even if I reacted to any!
I certainly hope they place them in the public domain!
I really, really want to see!
2
Anyone who’s suffered the indignity of reading through the Trumpbots’ tweets on almost any subject, from HRC to the ACA to Kid Rock, can easily sense there’s more going on than simply the free expression of individual opinion. It’s brainwashing, pure and simple.
After reading the recent NYT feature on one of Twitter’s creators and his misgivings about what they hath wrought, I’m surprised they haven’t taken more steps against the onslaught. Starting with shutting down Trump’s account.
5
That whole business on Day #2 of the Trump Administration, where were told in no uncertain terms about the hugeness of Trump's crowd size - that was a complete lie and we were supposed to just swallow it.
And administration that openly deals with "alternative facts" does not have the best interests of the country in mind.
Period.
I think it would be a big step in the right direction if someone took the device out of the hands of the so-called president. He is pouring gasoline on this fire every day, just around dawn.
13
Uh, that's what it means to be POTUS. Unfortunately. Now, can we go back to restraining the power of Washington D.C.?
My question is: Russia appears to have interfered in our election, whether they influenced the outcome is still unknown. They should pay a high price for that interference, we need to discourage this sort of thing. Our reaction is complicated by the fact that we have also interfered in foreign elections on a routine basis.
31
If men were angels, we would have no need for government. Espionage, like risk, is a reality of the human condition. We can only manage it, not make vain attempts to eradicate it.
One has to wonder what makes the American electorate so vulnerable to propaganda. The jury is still out on the hacking of voting booths in critical districts of pivotal states, but simply in terms of manipulating public opinion by commandeering the social media, the Russians would not have succeeded with a more educated, skeptical public. Why is the American electorate so abjectly dumb? Our innocence has always made us susceptible to demagoguery, and will probably doom us, if it hasn't already. Yes, Donald Trump knows this and plays it for all it's worth, but it's up to us to resist the persistent lies we are fed. Still, I the story of the Big Hack has yet to be told.
72
Why? 1. People don't read anything but social media and websites that publish all sorts of inflammatory stuff. 2. The repressed bigotry was unleashed when 45 started talking like this. The tone is set at the top. And the Russians just fanned the flames.
5
Righto. The systems America depends on for voting are so vulnerable that hacking them at the recent DefCon was set up as a timed, competitive event--in which all teams succeeded!
http://fortune.com/2017/07/31/defcon-hackers-us-voting-machines/
Donald Trump Warned of a Rigged Election, Was He Right?
http://www.mintpressnews.com/donald-trump-warned-of-a-rigged-election-wa..
Laughing Their Ossoff: Did Computer-Aided Fraud Play A Role In Georgia's Special Election Upset?https://www.mintpressnews.com/laughing-their-ossoff-did-computer-aided-f...
2016 Presidential Election Table--How the numbers don't add up
http://tdmsresearch.com/2016/11/10/2016-presidential-election-table/
I think because we've had no war fought on soil other than our own. And we've not experienced the terrors of dictatorships. But we're getting close
Ridiculous, let's get a map of twitter users, I would bet they are mostly habitating in Blue states. I don't think people in fly over country were relying on twitter for their political information.
4
Speaking from fly over country, the people here are just as addicted to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social media as they are any place else. The middle of the country isn't made up of rubes who don't know how to use smart phones or computers.
43
It doesn't matter if they use twitter or facebook or not. Those stories quickly make it to mainstream right wing radio, TV, and websites where they do the real damage.
17
Twitter and Facebook are used throughout America, especially in red states.
I am a liberal, who uses neither.
10
Legitimate users of social media far outnumber the fringe bots and extremists. We need to identify and overwhelm the fake messages of the tiny minority that is artificially setting the tone and topics of discussions. Be active, call out and shoot down fake posts when you see them. The weapon of subversion they have chosen can be their demise since they are vastly outnumbered by people who are just waking up to the extent of this scam.
1
I challenge "vastly outnumber". the cost of scaling up the number of bots is very low. when you combine that with the kind of smart targeting they alluded to in the article, it's not hard to dominate people's feeds and as they say, if a sentiment is repeated often enough...
Twitter should never be responsible for the content of their publishers just as the government should not impinge free speech. However Twitter should ABSOLUTELY severely restrict the use of bots to validated publishers (and should charge them to offset the cost of implementing that).
Bottom line is, Twitter should be a platform for people "talking" to other PEOPLE. That's the way to achieve the balance the poster I'm responding to suggests already exists.
4
Haven't we figured out that FB and Twitter are just so much noise - all generated to try to sell you advertising? As information channels they're a joke.
I assume the vast majority of all hate messages on Twitter and FB, as well as comments on this and websites like Washington Post are Russian bots. After all, very few Infowars viewers and Breitbart readers are reading newspapers that they have been indoctrinated to believe are fake news. However, it does stoke the flames of those who are on the lunatic fringe and make them feel they are something more than the lunatic fringe. It also hinders the economy, because many don't want to make investments in business, real estate, etc., when they feel insecure about the direction the country is going. It also leaves the groups targeted by the Russian bots (under direction from Trump handlers Stone and Bannon/Manafort etc. we will soon no doubt be hearing from the criminal investigation) feeling unsafe. The Russians are fighting a war against us and they are winning.
29
For the record, NY Times subscriber since the early 1990's, long before the rise of the internet. And had never heard of Breitbart until Hillary Clinton did her "alt-right" speech in August or September of 2016. After her speech, I looked it up. What is this Breitbart? Breitbart obviously has a very strong stance on enforcement of immigration laws; support for Israel (or more precisely, Likud); and a provocateur's take on identity politics. NY Times generally is center-left.
It can be healthy to read across the ideological spectrum. Democracy Now; Glenn Greenwald's The Intercept; NPR; NY Times; Wall Street Journal; and now a little of Breitbart. Plus our local papers. There is no one media source with a monopoly on the truth.
8
Just as Trump launches this as an issue the Russians move in lockstep. It's almost as if they were coordinating....
16
It's appropriate. I hope Mueller is watching.
9
Maybe soon we'll figure out that anonymity and social media don't mix well. Non-anonymous verified accounts on Twitter and Facebook, with anonymous users migrating to the DarkNet.
17
Peter Steiner was right: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog"
13
No, really! Mike Flynn, and Mike Flynn, Jr., Re-tweeted those accounts repeatedly. For anyone following and knowing what was happening, it was just how they operated. And they knew it was Russian controlled accounts, just like the watchers knew.
22
Yes. Whenever someone says "Where is the evidenc of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign? I haven't seen any." I always think, "Did you sleep through the last two years?"
I was aware of Russian propaganda already, to be fair, from my time in Europe. I knew the tone and content, so it was easy for me to recognize when Trump started bashing NATO out of nowhere and his campaign manipulated the Republican platform to turn against Ukraine.
8
Changing the Republican platform from a pro-Ukraine position to a more pro-Russian position was a dead giveaway. This is not normal especially for Republicans. That should have set of alarm bells in the minds of sentient Americans.
1
But it must be asked when Russia interfered in other countries elections were there always native colluders or was that special to the US?
So the billionaire Masters of the Universe at Twitter are unwilling to spend anything on preventing American elections from being corrupted? And they think private citizens telling the truth can prevent harm from thousands of automated fake Twitter accounts?
Where is the public outrage and calls for a boycott?
And where are the Republicans who run national security and investigation committees? Still busy with Benghazi and the private email server?
136
How much trouble has this company caused us and why should we let them continue to exist? Twitter is such a waste of time and I can't see any good in it. Oh sure, one can dispute the "facts" that come from its users, like Trump....but who remembers that those "facts" are wrong? It's a publicity factory, open to any egotistical person who wants "followers" and does no good for society.
7
Early on, in my Twitter life, I was mercilessly followed by Russian bots, whom I quickly blocked. I had no idea why I was being followed by these accounts. I reported them to Twitter several times. Now, I'm beginning to understand, and of course, the newer bots are no longer so obvious; they've evolved.
15
"When false information is stated, people can jump on false statements and challenge it."
Really? The public is supposed to go to war with Russian Intelligence and police the information being disseminated? There's something wrong with this picture.
50
Twitter needs to redo it's terms of use. It is very problematic and is skating on the thin, narcissistic ice of notoriety. That can do a lot of damage. It already has.
17
I'm a technologist, entrepreneur, and sometimes-social justice activist. I've been working in technology for over 20 years in different capacities, from system administration, project management, marketing, and sales.
I opened with that sentence to make it clear that I know a little something about technology, and that's the reason why for several years now I've been trying to get the message out about the pernicious propagandist effect of ALL corporate-owned "social media," of which Facebook and Twitter are the biggest offenders.
But the problem goes beyond this Russian "influence operations" campaign. When you add the scientifically-designed psychographical algorithms, specifically built to hook people into being glued to their social media screens, and the (possibly) tens of thousands of government, police (and national security), corporations, PR firms, and political parties' paid "trolls" tasked with cognitively-infiltrating online discussions, what you end up with is an incredibly-damaging cesspool of mind-numbing propaganda.
Add to that, the "propaganda effect" of corporate media conglomeration (TV, radio, print), as described by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky's "Propaganda Model, which explains "how propaganda and systemic biases function in mass media," and you can start to understand the degree by which the citizenry is being manipulated, and exploited.
In my eyes, all social dysfunction can be traced back to the effects of propaganda on the citizenry.
163
Very well said. And as you state, as much or more of this propaganda comes from within the US as from without.
7
Exactly right. Now take these algorithms a little further: How were Russian-paid bloggers able to send millions of bots with fake Clinton stories tailored precisely to individual voters via email, Facebook, Twitter, political ads without help from someone in the U.S. with that targeting? In 2015, Jared Kushner hired Brad Parscale's digital firm for $91mil to target states with paid ads, social media, and other cyber tools. The campaign ran up to 50,000 Facebook ads a day to establish what resonated with voters, paying for 'dark posts' that show up in a voter's news feed but are publically INVISIBLE, reported Wired Mag and Newsweek. Long-time Trump consigliere Roger Stone still boasts of his conversations with GRU.
www.newsweek.com/trump-brad-parscale-russia-digital-guru-637322
3
Excellent and thank you for the insight. Will begin the ween today.
1
Simply put,this is a travesty.Something has to change!
4
As frightening as this is with Twitter and Facebook being used for propaganda, the question is why?
What is it about Trump that had the Russian government yearning to help him win?
What do they have on him, that if he wins (and he did) they can use to influence (blackmail) his decisions?
The constant denials from Trump: fake, hoax, witch hunt, etc.
If I were innocent of accusations, my taxes, emails, blood type and all relevant information would be sent to the FBI immediately, without hesitation.
Trump, you have the power to end this, if your are innocent, release everything and end it all.
13
We all know that whether or not Trump and his team were directly colluding with Russian interests, he is their "useful fool". And he's most certainly not "innocent". The man is a film-flam artist and is guilty of myriad cons, which he really, really doesn't want uncovered.
5
I think Putin's motivation was fear of Hillary, that she would have been steeled against him, but Trump was an early convert to the type of predatory Capitalism Russia has fallen into. Putin likes women in their proper sphere, the kitchen. Read that when Angela Merkle visited him, he had his big dog there, having learned Merkle had been bitten by a dog as a child and feared them. Merkle ignored the dog. She knew what was what.
5
Maybe Russia doesn't have anything on Trump to use to influence him. Maybe they just wanted to ensure we had a leader so incompetent and psychologically damaged that the very fabric of our civil society would begin to unravel. Sounds as if they continue assist the unraveling through the use of hundreds of bots that are pulling on the threads every day. In the words of a former president who is looking better by the minute: "Mission accomplished".
Just ended my Twitter account; like many corporations being a good citizen is not on Twitter's list of things to do!
Many CEOs don't seem to get it that a corporation can be a good citizen and make good money at the same time; they are not mutually exclusive enterprises!
19
Perhaps the government should regulate Facebook, Twitter and any other social media accounts. They should be restricted to verified registered voters. That would accomplish two important objectives. First, Russians and other foreigners would be unable to set up fake accounts - keeping them out of our elections and out of our social issues. Second, the requirement would encourage Americans who wish to use these platforms to register and vote.
7
do you have any idea what percentage of (human) Twitter and Facebook users are not US citizens?
3
The whole purpose of my liberal arts education from HS through University, was to teach me to: "think critically." That means not swallowing whole others' opinions, advice, news and "facts." The people who were swayed by ANY propaganda, from whatever sources, around politics in the last say seven years, ultimately have only themselves to blame. If you want real news, read a reputable newspaper. Even then, add salt liberally. Mindlessness has its costs.
21
I'm glad it worked for you. Being college educated certainly didn't work for the Jill Stein and Bernie Sanders voters who were influenced by these Russian ads. So much has been said about how easily manipulated uneducated Trump voters are. I don't know what to say about the privileged, educated left, who seem just as easily manipulated.
6
E , posted "The people who were swayed by ANY propaganda, from whatever sources,..."
Well , 46% Americans Believe In Creationism According To Latest Gallup Poll http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/americans-believe-in-creationism.
The Gallup poll indicates that more than 100 million Americans are not ready to abandon the biblical understanding of the natural world, insisting that the Earth is but a few thousand years old and that humans were created in their present forms. Most educated people today see the natural world through the lens of science rather than the Bible. That shift in perspective is largely complete outside the United States,
Russia represents a profound threat to our democracy. This is a form of information warfare and should be treated as such. The new Cold War has begun, and unfortunately I believe we are left with no choice but to implement not only increased sanctions but also to shed much greater light on the depths of the corruption within the Russian government and its oligarchs.
If Russia wants to ruin our democracy with lies, we should weaken its political leaders with the truth.
19
Is this surprising? I have been waiting for such a report to substantiate my suspicions. What with a person with such surprising electoral votes resulting in him ending up in the White House, twittering away in the most disgraceful, loathsome, degrading ways, can anyone be surprised by this news? And for Twitter, Facebook, etc. "to be surprised" that there media means be abused in the gross (in a definitions of the word) manner that they have is highly appalling to this country's intelligence reputation.
9
When Orson Welles' infamous "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast in 1938 caused massive panic and outrage across the country, the FCC, Congress and the public demanded stronger regulation. Now, almost 80 years later, the President, Facebook, Twitter and the Republican controlled Congress are facing a real "war of the worlds", propagated by the Russians and they hide their cowardly heads under the desk.
92
Twitter can end the political manipulation very easily, by eliminating anonymity. Besides getting rid of the bot problem, and people behave in a more civilized manner when they have to reveal their names.
19
This is absolute insanity.
How can journalists, experts, and engaged citizens keep up side-by-side with an army of bots disseminating false information within seconds of one another?
No. We need journalists, experts, and engaged citizens thinking about how to regulate this. This is unprecedented. The same logic and displacement of responsibility that gun manufacturers and cigarette companies use (it's the person who pulls the trigger not the military grade automatic rifle... it's the person smoking not the highly addictive and toxic cigarettes) and should and cannot be applied to this completely new problem.
10
I never been tempted to waste my time on Facebook or Twitter. When I want to talk to friends, I call them on the phone or send them a letter or maybe an email. My thinking is that somebody should try to replace Facebook and Twitter with newspapers, the kind that are printed on paper.
7
I have never been tempted ....
1
We are either immersed in or entering an information war. Nothing makes humans more like lemmings than social media platforms. They can move everything human, impulses and emotions, and with it influence, read, control. Using AI and the algorithms that make us choose X over Y in internet products and services (see the reviews on Yelp and Google), we are being manipulated in ways that could be too subtle to detect without a tip-off. I think this is more destabilizing that bombs and soldiers, but it could make their pathway easier. We ought to be ruthless in our zeal to eliminate outside influences and "faux persona" without destroying the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Since we know that Russia is behind much of what we see, we ought to exert our will through punitive sanctions; much heavier and severe than anything related to trade or incursions into foreign lands. And, we need to address the ignorance this warfare feeds on, like it is lethal, by teaching civics starting in 3rd grade.
7
Twitter prides itself on being a platform that enables free speech. Unfortunately a small portion of users have found a way to use it to interfere in elections and spread mayhem. That's the thing with free speech, not everyone has good intentions.
Twitter isn't the problem. Our inability to exercise critical thinking skills is the real crisis. Can Twitter do more to help ensure this doesn't happen again; yes of course they can and should. But if we're so incapable of thinking for ourselves there really isn't a lot Twitter can do to help us with that.
The problem lies with us. We're lazy and don't think for ourselves. We're not as educated as other countries where Russia tried and failed to disrupt their election. An educated population isn't so easily duped. Twitter is the tool but we're the problem.
542
I agree with you, but would rather that you be more honest. The pronoun "they" fits better than "we." I understand that you are referring to Americans generally, but truth demands that we differentiate between those of us with critical thinking skills and the Twitter hysteria set.
1
Well said. Too many simply lack critical thinking skills. It's not only the Russians who are taking advantage of this, but also our own elected officials, political parties special interest groups, and many, many others.
We have lost the ability to challenge what we hear or watch, and to educate ourselves.
4
Tru dat. We're too dumb for free speech. Reality TV and Sunday school are not education.
4
I have felt uneasy for some time about Facebook which I first joined to be connected with my children. I am thinking abut how to leave and replace Facebook. It has begun to feel like fake news and a waste of my time. There are other ways to stay more intimately connected-instagram is great for following interests and family.
14
I find it hard to conceive that 600 twitter accounts, out of the many millions of accounts, would have somehow homed in on, and swayed, the blue-collar Midwestern voters who decided this election. Or that the similarly few Facebook account tied to our pals in Moscow were that big a deal either.
Maybe it's because I'm middle-aged and would never dream of looking at Twitter. Or maybe this just seems mathematically unlikely.
Just to make it clear, I'm not speaking from a partisan standpoint, I voted for Hillary.
35
Wake up Mike. It made a big big difference. Why do you think social media companies have such high valuations? Because they cause ideas, memes etc to "go viral" and people get "addicted" to them. Never has there been a better medium for spreading information/misinformation, ideas, propaganda, fake news, false narratives.
2
I'm a Twitter user. The bots were so obvious during the election. I commented to my husband how intense the hashtags against HRC were. Really really avtive and really really dominating the hashtag feeds. Right after the election, THAT EVENING the intensity and the dominance of the election hashtags stopped. It was noticeable just by being on Twitter. I think ethylene influenced the election. The WIKILEAKS dumps and tweets were continuous and numerous and vile. There were more than 600 aapunts, there had to be, but even if there were only 600 accounts, if they were automated, they could tweet continuously.
8
Mike, I think we are waiting for Mueller to tell us all about Russian interference in this election.
5
Take a knee, Twitter.
56
Taking a knee assumes alllegiance. Twitter's only allegiance is to its investors. Let's find out who they are.
5
Can the recent election be legally annulled, and another held?
309
Without the Electoral College
One person one vote
6
Do you really think it would be any different?
From everything I've seen indicates that we've all just doubled down on our choices.
2
Regarding "legally annulling" the election, Hillary has suggested she would pursue invalidating the election, presumably depending upon the results of the Mueller investigation and other congressional investigations. How far that would go is anyone's guess since it's unprecedented.
5
And in meanwhile Trump et al say they had nothing to do with Russian influence on the campaign nor election.....But Ttump did call on friendship for Putin.
42
Dead giveaway - they changed the Republican platform!
Dead giveaway - they changed the Republican platform!
=========================
Actually that has been proven to be a complete myth. The platform was always anti-Russia and pro-Ukraine
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/how-pundits-flubbed-trump-russia-story...
Bots, fake news, fake ads, Russians in disguise all distributing alternative news becomes a problem when you have half or more of a population that is unable or unwilling to distinguish between reasonable and improbable news as checked against reputable versus alternative sources.
America's enemies, all of them, do well in an environment in which polarization continues to grow, in an economy that grows unequal by the day, in which the more privileged have access to good news and the rest to whatever is free online.
Please, New York Times editors, please set up a free portion of the Times website and dedicate it to keeping a running list of all the nefarious things Trump has been doing while we've been relitigating the election and obsessing over whose fault it is. Whose fault is important, but not more than all the unraveling that is being done as we speak. Politico is doing it. I am sure you can do a lot better. https://www.rimaregas.com/2017/07/29/thanks-politico-for-keeping-a-runni...
This nation has a lot of problems that Russia has probably taken advantage of. Those problems didn't begin in 2015. We've allowed ourselves to take a lot of shortcuts over the last 30-40 years and we are now seeing the result in the oligarchy we have become. The addition of Roy Moore to the Senate is yet another manifestation of how strange a nation we have become. That's not a Russia thing. It's an "us" thing.
We need better focus.
258
Moore is not in the Senate just yet, although it seems likely. Funny that the guy he beat is Mr Strange.
1
I should have written "probable addition." When Mitch McConnell calls Judge Roy Moore to congratulate him even though Moore had vowed to disrupt McConnell and even cause his removal from the leadership, you *know* he will likely be voted in.
See http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/352802-mcconnell-gop-senate-brace-for...
4
I wonder if they played any role in influencing your daily diatribes against Clinton throughout the election?
3
Shut down these social media sites. They're ruining the country. National security issue: no more Facebook, no more Twitter. People can go back to picking up the phone, sending letters, and even email. We are ruining our own country while Zuckerberg and Dorsey laugh all the way to the bank.
249
I must agree. These bogus quasi-anonymous social media sites or platforms are causing grave harm to our republic.
2
Getting folks heads looking forward instead of down would improve their posture (wait til old age, being a digital hunchback for 50 years), clear their sinuses, startle them with the beauty of the real world, and reduce distracted driving, biking, roller blading, skiing, and walking.
2
bstar: my opinion exactly to shut down these social media. Many people have told me of their inane messages from friends that are a complete waste of time. When one calls on the phone, time is money and there is a real conversation between caller and called.
2
Good reporting. Please hurry.
94
Do people actually admit to being "swayed" by twitter messages? Do people admit to receiving and following "political" advice from unknowns on Facebook?
23
You're viewing these messages as trees, and not the forest of confusion they create.
4
I don't know if people admit to being swayed but I know for sure as an avid user on both platforms much of what has now been shown to be fake news stories during the election cycle were heavily shared on Facebook by users and when you tried to tell them the stories weren't true they would get heated and curse you in 140 characters.
8
They may not admit it but they are. You wouldn't believe the crazy things my 89 year old husband believes thanks to all the alt right mail he receives. Every con charity in the country has our address. And some of them threaten spouses like me who try to protect our marital community from these lies by stating on envelopes that we can be prosecuted if we do not give the mail to the addressee!
6
If anyone believes all this..I have a bridge to sell to you. I'm not for Clinton and I'm not for Trump. I don't see any sign of honesty ..not a shred of it, from any of our leaders or our media. We are on our own people.
42
So, you believe that the 16 leaders of the nation's intelligence agencies, the political leaders of both parties and numerous, highly credible private intelligence firms are all lying about Russian meddling. I'm sorry, but your comment is either disingenuous, fact-deprived or you've been without access to the last two years of news.
10
Robert, the NY Times had to retract the "17 intelligence agencies" line. It turned out to be 4 agencies, and the analysts were handpicked to produce the desired "opinions" (no evidence has been produced because there isn't any).
That's what happened with lead up to the Iraq War.
15
@Carolyn Evelin: "we are on our own". That's just what they want you to believe.
3