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Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#161

Post by mirimir »

mirimir wrote: post #142
nradov wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet so far Yeltsin is still wrong: Russia's difficulties appear to be permanent. Population and life expectancy have declined. GDP growth has been low and erratic; currently their economy is smaller than Italy. They rank 131st on the worldwide corruption index. All of these problems are self inflicted.

Maybe so. But time will tell. In any case, it's not the accuracy of the prediction that matters here. It's the motivation.

And it's also not very charitable. It's an aspect of a mindset that perpetuates the cycle of violence. Long term, it works better for victors to be forgiving and magnanimous. But sadly enough, it's probably too late for that. Maybe about a century too late.

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#162

Post by kemerover »

rblatz wrote: post #110
kemerover wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understand what is wrong with "whataboutism". When someone pretends that he has a moral highground, it is a reasonable thing to call them out on it. If you dont't want a conversation to be "derailed", stop making unsupported, wrong or dubious assumptions.

It's basically breaks down to "two wrongs don't make a right."

I don't see how this phrase is relevant?

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#163

Post by kemerover »

Firebrand wrote: post #104
kemerover wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understand what is wrong with "whataboutism". When someone pretends that he has a moral highground, it is a reasonable thing to call them out on it. If you dont't want a conversation to be "derailed", stop making unsupported, wrong or dubious assumptions.

Just because A doesn't do X, but asks B to do X, doesn't mean B can argue the value of not doing X by saying “A doesn't do X, so neither should I" because: A (-X) ≠ B (-X)

So what? Now tell me in terms of the US and Russia what is the connection between your imaginary situation and reality.

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#165

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

spaceflunky wrote: post #159
akhilcacharya wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the context of web ads it's not insignificant.

If you can sway a US presidential election from 99% chance of losing, to winning, using only a $100k ad budget. Maybe you deserve to be in power...

I certainly agree with this.

~ Gary from Marketing.

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#167

Post by mirimir »

Sommersonn wrote: post #155
mirimir wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US "won" the Cold War by bankrupting the former Soviet Union. And then they humiliated its leadership. Putin was Yeltsin's protégé, and watched him dying of alcoholism. He's still angry. And remember, much of his family died in the siege of Leningrad. So, yes. They have a plan.

Putin is angry because Yeltsin died from alcohol? What US has to do with it? Or with the fact that Putin's family died in the siege (which was USSR faut, by the way, since they've friended Hitler in 1939)?

Putin is angry because the US humiliated Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed. Which was reflected in Yeltsin's collapse, through depression and alcoholism. And regardless of the causes of Leningrad's sacking, many of Putin's family died there. All of which has given him a rather negative attitude toward the US and its allies.

And by the way, remember that the US and its allies invaded Russia at the end of WWII, after the Tzar was deposed. So it's not at all surprising that Stalin initially allied Russia with Germany.

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#168

Post by nl »

mirimir wrote: post #167
Sommersonn wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putin is angry because Yeltsin died from alcohol? What US has to do with it? Or with the fact that Putin's family died in the siege (which was USSR faut, by the way, since they've friended Hitler in 1939)?

Putin is angry because the US humiliated Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed. Which was reflected in Yeltsin's collapse, through depression and alcoholism. And regardless of the causes of Leningrad's sacking, many of Putin's family died there. All of which has given him a rather negative attitude toward the US and its allies. And by the way, remember that the US and its allies invaded Russia at the end of WWII, a…

WW1, not WW2 (I think that is just a typo)

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#169

Post by AaronFriel »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #125
AaronFriel wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are laws against foreign nationals to provide a "thing of value" to a US political campaign. This is obviously a difficult thing to tease out. My source on this is Eugene Volokh, a law professor and First Amendment attorney: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/201... The fundamental question then is: was this intentional on behalf of the foreign agent to provide a "thing of value" to a US p…

But in this hypothetical scenario they're not donating to a political campaign, they're buying advertising space directly from a private organization. I suppose you could argue that ads which advocate for a political candidate could count as a "thing of value" for that candidate, but even in that case, there _is_ no foreign national to punish here; the entity that funded the effort is a foreign government, not an ind…

One doesn't have to donate to a political campaign to contribute a "thing of value" to a campaign, that argument is elaborated on in the link I shared. The law does not define thing of value to be a donation or monetary contribution to a campaign, but something much broader, see 52 U.S.C. § 30121.

Likewise, foreign national is a legal term that includes foreign principals, which includes governments, see 22 U.S.C. § 611.

Re: Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election

#170

Post by Sommersonn »

mirimir wrote: post #167
Sommersonn wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putin is angry because Yeltsin died from alcohol? What US has to do with it? Or with the fact that Putin's family died in the siege (which was USSR faut, by the way, since they've friended Hitler in 1939)?

Putin is angry because the US humiliated Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed. Which was reflected in Yeltsin's collapse, through depression and alcoholism. And regardless of the causes of Leningrad's sacking, many of Putin's family died there. All of which has given him a rather negative attitude toward the US and its allies. And by the way, remember that the US and its allies invaded Russia at the end of WWII, a…

US humiliated Russia? Care to provide some clarifications?
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