I don't want to hijack or anything, but just want to also link to a project I did that also looked at these ads and lets you browse/categorize them interactively: https://qunc.co/russia_facebook_project/
Way better UI.
Fakebook: A tool exploring the 2016 U.S. election Facebook ads bought by Russia
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Re: Fakebook: A tool exploring the 2016 U.S. election Facebook ads bought by Russia
#52This doesn't really communicate anything. All the examples are something of this ad about americans liking cars was targeted to americans who like cars. I don't at all deny Russia meddling, but the website does a poor job at showing what they were trying to influence. Example: This ad targeted people interested in same-sex marriage and 12 more. We speak for all fellow members of LGBT community across the nation. How…
"This doesn't really communicate anything. All the examples are
... How is this influencing anything, all it does is "
I agree with your impressions, but I think that it 'communicates' the most important thing of all: Data without much spin, without excessive interpretation and cherry picking.
My takaway is: The Russian sponsored ad campaign is not as serious as some would like us to believe.
Re: Fakebook: A tool exploring the 2016 U.S. election Facebook ads bought by Russia
#53I live in a MA which is a solid blue state, I’m also not in a bubble and know many people who voted for Trump. Not a single person voted for him because of ads. Not TV ads, not print ads, not radio ads, not internet ads, not beach banners towed behind a Cessna. I know it’s not a popular narrative, but no one was “fooled” into voting for Trump. They knew what they were voting for. Most of those people liked his anti-P…
Agreed. I don't really care about Trump, but I voted third party again Clinton. However... doubling down on uberPC, calling people Nazis, saying "it's ok to be white" is white-supremacist talk, every day a new scandal... It's like these people are trying to get him re-elected.
Re: Fakebook: A tool exploring the 2016 U.S. election Facebook ads bought by Russia
#54I think it's telling that tech people are very skeptical of the "$100k in facebook ads turned the election" narrative. Read the actual report from the DNI. Election counts weren't altered, the ads are nothing-burger. The hacks on mail systems were primarily done with spear-phishing, the same things businesses are caught with every day. My conclusion - phishing is the real story here of any consequence, if we want to…
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Re: Fakebook: A tool exploring the 2016 U.S. election Facebook ads bought by Russia
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it absurd though? Russia probably didn't follow any disclosure laws. Also, these ads are more about driving traffic to groups with content designed to influence people without coming off as ads. I guess the real question is how much Clinton and Trump spent on astro-turfing vs Russia's ads.
It's absurd. 100k vs 81m. If their ads were that much more effective for that much less money, they've not just got the best marketing pros in the business, they've discovered some revolutionary secret to advertising. What's the most likely explanation? 100k ads from Russia tilted the election, or Hillary was a shit candidate. Could it be that someone's ego is at play in this narrative besides Trump's?
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Re: Fakebook: A tool exploring the 2016 U.S. election Facebook ads bought by Russia
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
So the long standing rumor is that Russia influenced the US election through Facebook. Okay, fine. You know what I want to hear about? The wealthy Americans who used Facebook to influence the US election. If Facebook can be used in this way, I think looking at what Russia did is interesting, but it’s not the only story! The story is, people are subtly and quietly influincing our elections! Shouldn’t we look closely a…
No, that’s nice but it’s a different issue. We already have plenty of inquiry into the influence of Americans with money on politics, with Citizens United and whatnot. A hostile foreign government’s operations to propagandize Americans about politics is important to analyze.
I'll believe that it's important to analyze a foreign government's operations to propagandize Americans when we start analyzing Israel's long campaign to do the same.
Re: Fakebook: A tool exploring the 2016 U.S. election Facebook ads bought by Russia
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, that’s nice but it’s a different issue. We already have plenty of inquiry into the influence of Americans with money on politics, with Citizens United and whatnot. A hostile foreign government’s operations to propagandize Americans about politics is important to analyze.
It should be equally as important as any other valid hostile entity with proven strength.
Sure, like which entities do you mean? I think it is worth distinguishing from domestic and external, and state actors vs. non-state.
Re: Fakebook: A tool exploring the 2016 U.S. election Facebook ads bought by Russia
#58I find the irony in so many Americans being outraged at a foreign state influencing another state's elections to be deliciously intoxicating.
It's almost as though some governments have been determined through economic and military strength to be more significant and powerful than others perhaps? Whataboutism doesn't change the facts at hand, do they? A hostile foreign state orchestrated an intelligence operation to elect a specific person to further their own geopolitical goals. Every single person in this country should be alarmed by this.
Who gets to decide which state is hostile? We should be friends with Russia, not blaming them for all of our woes.
Re: Fakebook: A tool exploring the 2016 U.S. election Facebook ads bought by Russia
#59Re: Fakebook: A tool exploring the 2016 U.S. election Facebook ads bought by Russia
#60The Media absolutely refuses to show this aspect of the meddling. That it was playing all-sides to encourage the same end result.