Donald Trump, Republican candidate for President of the United States, speaking to supporters at an immigration policy speech at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo by
Gage Skidmore.
https://flic.kr/p/LALYuG
To most people, the 2016 Presidential Election of Donald Trump as president was a shocker. It almost felt as if the previous United States, with ideas of inclusion and peace, was fired by a new chauvinist United States with ideas of segregation of transpersons in military and misogyny. How could this happen in a time where America seemed to be progressing socially seen by the last administration? To an extent, propaganda of disinformation via social media aimed at specific groups of people in the U.S. apparently produced, packaged and paid for by Russians years before the election.
The constant flow of disinformation started two years before the presidential election that molded millions of Americans’ mindsets. The propaganda came in multiple forms ranging from false political ads aimed at Hillary Clinton paid in rubles to alleged “troll factories” based in Russia, where internet trolls were tasked with creating memes and fake accounts in hopes of “exploiting Americas deepest divisions,” according to ABC News.
The racial and social divisions seemed to be the Russians’ main focus. Fake Black Live Matters accounts were created and amplified to manipulate its organization’s image and message. Created by an anonymous account in Russia, Coal Miners rallied in Philadelphia at an event called ‘Miners for Trump” leading up to the 2016 elections.
These false ads appeared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Facebook reported that up to 126 million people viewed the Russian propaganda on its platform alone. Ads were geographically targeted as well. The majority of the false ads, politically charged memes, and fake accounts were biased in Donald Trump’s favor, sparking investigations by the CIA and FBI into what role Russia played in his election. 8,000 false ads and 80,000 post were linked to Russia IP addresses.
This isn’t the first time the Russian government has been accused of influencing and causing chaos in a country by means of internet propaganda. In April of 2007 a bronze Russian World World II statue erected in Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, became the focus of chaos. Estonians wanted the statue relocated to a cemetery as it was a symbol of oppression to them. To the minority Russian population in Estonia, the removal of the statute was a sign of ethnic discrimination. The Russian government “warned that the removal of the statue would be disastrous for Estonia.”
You can see the same division here in the southern states with far right Republicans, the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis protesting the removal of a Robert E. Lee Statue erected in Virginia. The message from Donald Trump asking “Is George Washington next?” in relation to the Robert E Lee statue being removed, calling Neo-Nazis “good people” and the violence that followed.
On April, 26 the situation escalated as a result of false reports by the Russian media that the bronze statue and Soviet war graves were being destroyed. Riots broke out that lasted for two days resulting in one dead, and many injured. On the second day, Estonias’ cyber structure was hit with huge waves of information causing banking, government and social platforms inaccessible and in some cases removed. The cyber attacks did not cease until May 19. The attacks came from an Russian IP addresses and the code instructions were in Russian.
With a record-breaking 139 million voters in the 2016 presidential election, a potential 126 million misinformed voters can be disastrous for any democracy. Though a majority of Americans get their news from television, adults 18-49 preferred getting their news from social media outlets. People that get their news from social media believe that their friends or family that produce or repost news content is as relevant as professional news outlets. However, most don’t trust either social media or professional outlets fully. Altogether 51% of adults are loyal to their news sources with 78% returning to the same news sources. This means at least half or more of the voters in 2016 were influenced by some Russian disinformation. Professional news outlets online aren’t trusted fully on social media or TV but people are loyal and believe it almost to the same extent.
Being that most of the ads were geographically targeted, specific groups saw specific ads and 78% of most Americans, though skeptical, still refer back to read or watch the same news. In a way the Facebook ads system profiles people, locking them off from opposing ideas. Social media has amplified the manipulation and tailoring of information not for the consumer but for the producer. We saw this in the 2016 election. The only difference between Estonia’s disinformation attack and ours is that we have a president that benefits off the fake news and Russian interference. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have all acknowledged that they didn’t do all they could to stop the Russian cyber attacks and are vowing to prevent disinformation in the future.