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I think the exact nature of content of ads brings open all sorts of investigation / interests in others outside of simple election meddling. It'll likely expose

I think the exact nature of content of ads brings open all sorts of investigation / interests in others outside of simple election meddling. It'll likely expose the reality of everyone being not only being targeted, but facebook building an advertising platform that makes it easier. The other thing that surprises me here is that people are all of a sudden concerned that russia may have tried to sway an election as if this hasn't been going on since the dawn of time. If anything is learned from this I hope it's that people should be more subjective even with things that seem to support their own personal opinions.

prawn 9y ago
Yeah, that's one of two main things I come back to each time I consider this from outside the USA. Hacking and influencing is at least a relatively bloodless way to secure the result you want, and, for the most part, the US population voted the way they did. Every Trump failing was on full show and repeated over and over by the media and people voted for him regardless. Maybe Russia tipped things in his favour, but it's not like it was from 30% to 51%.
- seanwilson 9y ago
  > for the most part, the US population voted the way they did. > Maybe Russia tipped things in his favour, but it's not like it was from 30% to 51%. That's my feelings as well. There's always misinformation in elections and you're never going to eliminate it. The bigger issue is people falling for it and only paying attention to information that confirms their beliefs. I'm not sure what a practical solution is but having your election results rely on shielding the public from misinformation doesn't seem practical either. What do other countries do?
- pmoriarty 9y ago
  "people voted for him regardless" It's not actually clear how many people actually voted for Trump. Hackable electronic voting machines and vote-counting machines without paper trails make knowing that virtually impossible.
  - grzm 9y ago
    At the same time I haven't heard any credible evidence to think that anything happened. Don't get me wrong, we should definitely move to replacing electronic recording machines with paper-based records. There's no reason to spread unfounded rumors, and plenty of reasons not to. If this is something you're concerned about, and it sounds like you are, do what you can to replace electronic recording machines with paper to strengthen the system.

prawn 9y ago

Yeah, that's one of two main things I come back to each time I consider this from outside the USA. Hacking and influencing is at least a relatively bloodless way to secure the result you want, and, for the most part, the US population voted the way they did. Every Trump failing was on full show and repeated over and over by the media and people voted for him regardless. Maybe Russia tipped things in his favour, but it's not like it was from 30% to 51%.

seanwilson 9y ago
> for the most part, the US population voted the way they did. > Maybe Russia tipped things in his favour, but it's not like it was from 30% to 51%. That's my feelings as well. There's always misinformation in elections and you're never going to eliminate it. The bigger issue is people falling for it and only paying attention to information that confirms their beliefs. I'm not sure what a practical solution is but having your election results rely on shielding the public from misinformation doesn't seem practical either. What do other countries do?
pmoriarty 9y ago
"people voted for him regardless" It's not actually clear how many people actually voted for Trump. Hackable electronic voting machines and vote-counting machines without paper trails make knowing that virtually impossible.
- grzm 9y ago
  At the same time I haven't heard any credible evidence to think that anything happened. Don't get me wrong, we should definitely move to replacing electronic recording machines with paper-based records. There's no reason to spread unfounded rumors, and plenty of reasons not to. If this is something you're concerned about, and it sounds like you are, do what you can to replace electronic recording machines with paper to strengthen the system.