Interestingly, (and despite an erroneous popular belief), prior to this there was no evidence Russia "hacked" the election other than social-media-enhanced "firehose of falsehood" propaganda.
In other words, holy shit. Looks like someone in the intelligence community decided to hit back a Putin after his recent comments.
Had the exact same thought. The timing of the report is perfectly placed after the Russian president's most recent remarks and the Russian Congress's report on American influence efforts on Russia's elections.
From the contents of the report it's very clear this Russia-attributed activity is associated with an espionage campaign rather than a manipulation campaign, though more details may be forthcoming on there being an actual effort to perform active manipulation.
The Russian effort to use true (white), gray (stretched) and black (false) propaganda showed sophistication mostly in its ability to adapt and react very quickly. The actual messaging was pretty weak - primarily appealing to those who already held some of the same thoughts on their own. Both Russia and the United States know that white propaganda is the most effective propaganda because it penetrates, resonates and persists better and because developing sources of truth (white and gray) are able to build stronger platforms than those based on falsehood. In this instance it was the true statements spread by Russia about corruption in the United States, war crimes, etc that were able to resonate and activate masses of people.
[+] [-] pkilgore|8 years ago|reply
In other words, holy shit. Looks like someone in the intelligence community decided to hit back a Putin after his recent comments.
[+] [-] jwtadvice|8 years ago|reply
From the contents of the report it's very clear this Russia-attributed activity is associated with an espionage campaign rather than a manipulation campaign, though more details may be forthcoming on there being an actual effort to perform active manipulation.
The Russian effort to use true (white), gray (stretched) and black (false) propaganda showed sophistication mostly in its ability to adapt and react very quickly. The actual messaging was pretty weak - primarily appealing to those who already held some of the same thoughts on their own. Both Russia and the United States know that white propaganda is the most effective propaganda because it penetrates, resonates and persists better and because developing sources of truth (white and gray) are able to build stronger platforms than those based on falsehood. In this instance it was the true statements spread by Russia about corruption in the United States, war crimes, etc that were able to resonate and activate masses of people.