1/ I think people underestimate how easy it is to manipulate mass perception through social media with relatively **small** interventions. It's non-linear. Algorithms amplify artificially salient political trolling. Russia definitely took advantage of this. But...
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2/ ...they had A LOT of company. A parasitic ecosystem executing the same exploit emerged well before the elections. The parasites didn't do it for pure political (or geopolitical) motives. They just used politics as the vector to sell things -- the
@infowars business model.1 reply 0 retweets 2 likesShow this thread -
3/ Ignore the desperation of hoping that Russia was definitively responsible for the decay of the American public sphere. Even if a bipartisan political consensus emerged to have a do-over election (it won't), it wouldn't matter....
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4/ ...none of the big social media companies (esp.
@facebook and@Twitter) are patching the bug because to them, it's a feature -- the engine of engagement growth driving stock prices. 2016 would just repeat in some new terrible form.1 reply 0 retweets 2 likesShow this thread -
5/ So, yes, I think the Russian meddling was bad and did affect the outcome of 2016. But, the frantic, singular focus is worse, because it leaves all of the huge mass of other bad actors and processes unaccounted for. Ignoring social media's role...
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6/ ...the
@GOP is now unambiguously a terminal disease. Granting the office of the President perpetual rights to lie about anything is accelerant to the social fire. It makes it easier for all bad actors to continue exploiting and regenerating the dysfunctional info environment.1 reply 0 retweets 2 likesShow this thread -
7/ Whether or not Trump colluded isn't politically irrelevant, but the overwhelming mass media focus on it obscures the deadly problem of a catastrophically-failed and demonstrably ruthless political party that's in power and wants to stay there...
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Replying to @generativist
2016 is going to be on a loop for a long long time.
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