When Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, spreading divisive and inflammatory posts online to stoke outrage, its posts were brash and riddled with spelling errors and strange syntax. They were designed to get attention by any means necessary.
“Hillary is a Satan,” one Russian-made Facebook post read.
Now, eight years later, foreign interference in American elections has become far more sophisticated, and far more difficult to track.
Disinformation from abroad — particularly from Russia, China and Iran — has matured into a consistent and pernicious threat, as the countries test, iterate and deploy increasingly nuanced tactics, according to U.S. intelligence and defense officials, tech companies and academic researchers. The ability to sway even a small pocket of Americans could have outsize consequences for the presidential election, which polls generally consider a neck-and-neck race.
Russia, according to American intelligence assessments, aims to bolster the candidacy of former President Donald J. Trump, while Iran favors his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. China appears to have no preferred outcome.
But the broad goal of these efforts has not changed: to sow discord and chaos in hopes of discrediting American democracy in the eyes of the world. The campaigns, though, have evolved, adapting to a changing media landscape and the proliferation of new tools that make it easy to fool credulous audiences.
Here are the ways that foreign disinformation has evolved:
Russia was the primary architect of American election-related disinformation in 2016, and its posts ran largely on Facebook.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
For Gómez-Suárez, if Colombia’s conflict is regional, then the solution should be too. He draws a contrast between his approach… Read More
US hits Russia’s Gazprombank with sanctions Financial TimesU.S. Sanctions Gazprombank, Dozens of Other Russian Institutions The Wall Street JournalThe biggest remaining unsanctioned… Read More
101 East goes undercover in Italy to expose the sweatshops making bags for some of the world’s leading luxury brands.The… Read More
CNN — John Prescott, a former British deputy prime minister in Tony Blair’s Labour government, has died, his family said… Read More
An Israeli civilian who was brought into a southern Lebanese warzone was killed by enemy fire Wednesday, Binyamin Regional… Read More
President Vladimir Putin paves the way for broader use of atomic weapons.President Vladimir Putin has updated Russia’s nuclear doctrine. Now,… Read More
This website uses cookies.