Russian Interference, Radicalization, and Dishonest Ads: What Makes Them So Powerful? Russian interference in recent U.S. elections and online radicalization by proponents of violent extremism are just two recent, large-scale examples of the content problems that we reference above. Following the 2016 election, it was revealed that Russian government actors had attempted to influence U.S. election results by promoting false online content (posts and ads alike) and using online messaging to stir tensions between different voter factions. These influence efforts, alongside robust disinformation campaigns run by domestic actors,19 were able to flourish and reach millions of voters (and perhaps influence their choices) in an online environment where content-shaping and ad-targeting algorithms play the role of human editors. Indeed, it was not the mere existence of misleading content that interfered with people’s understanding of what was true about each candidate and their positions—it was the reach of these messages, enabled by algorithms that selectively targeted the voters whom they were most likely to influence, in the 20 platforms’ estimation.
newamerica.org/oti/reports/its-not-just-content-its-business-model/
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