4 ms·

You're downvoted, but this has been exactly my thought all along. The people who saw these ads weren't going the other way anyway.

mythrwy 9y ago
No, no they weren't. Which make the whole drama even more objectively silly. For the record I have no doubt the Russians do engage in covert activities not in the best interests of the U.S. But these straw grasping dramas have gotten tiresome.
- brohoolio 9y ago
  You clearly don't know my in-laws or parents. By the time the election was over they had bought into pizzagate. They are the perfect demographic to target. No ad blockers, leaning towards Bernie but kind of didn't relate to Hillary. You only needed to convince a fraction of the people to either not vote or vote for Trump. The best part is you could target them by trying all sorts of ads until you found one that clicked then have it go viral. I'm waiting for the Mueller probe but I fear the worst.
- unholythree 9y ago
  I'm not sure. I honestly don't know if the assessment in the article is correct, but it seems to me the objective of a project like this isn't to change any minds but harden existing postions and prevent compromise. The impression I got was that the writer argues the Russian's goal in this operation was encourage more extreme political views in order to divide the American people and weaken national unity.
uoaei 9y ago
I think it's less about swaying their minds and more about making them more active and vocal about the topic, which spreads their opinion to people who otherwise would stand no ground either way. The people they would directly affect are their family members and established friends, who have an inherent trust for people they know and have opened up their lives to. In essence, it created pseudobots that serve as outlets for the kinds of messages (read: divisions) they wanted to sow.

4 ms·

You're downvoted, but this has been exactly my thought all along. The people who saw these ads weren't going the other way anyway.

by Gargoyle 9y ago

mythrwy 9y ago
No, no they weren't. Which make the whole drama even more objectively silly. For the record I have no doubt the Russians do engage in covert activities not in the best interests of the U.S. But these straw grasping dramas have gotten tiresome.
- brohoolio 9y ago
  You clearly don't know my in-laws or parents. By the time the election was over they had bought into pizzagate. They are the perfect demographic to target. No ad blockers, leaning towards Bernie but kind of didn't relate to Hillary. You only needed to convince a fraction of the people to either not vote or vote for Trump. The best part is you could target them by trying all sorts of ads until you found one that clicked then have it go viral. I'm waiting for the Mueller probe but I fear the worst.
- unholythree 9y ago
  I'm not sure. I honestly don't know if the assessment in the article is correct, but it seems to me the objective of a project like this isn't to change any minds but harden existing postions and prevent compromise. The impression I got was that the writer argues the Russian's goal in this operation was encourage more extreme political views in order to divide the American people and weaken national unity.
uoaei 9y ago
I think it's less about swaying their minds and more about making them more active and vocal about the topic, which spreads their opinion to people who otherwise would stand no ground either way. The people they would directly affect are their family members and established friends, who have an inherent trust for people they know and have opened up their lives to. In essence, it created pseudobots that serve as outlets for the kinds of messages (read: divisions) they wanted to sow.