[lactau]

Still doesn't make any sense. Is "The democratic voting of two countries was manipulated using social media, it puts at risk our rights, and freedoms." a problem or is "The democratic voting of two countries was illegally manipulated using social media, it puts at risk our rights, and freedoms." a problem?

[JumpCrisscross]

> Is "The democratic voting of two countries was manipulated using social media, it puts at risk our rights, and freedoms." a problem or is "The democratic voting of two countries was illegally manipulated using social media, it puts at risk our rights, and freedoms." a problem?

Microtargeting voters is not illegal. It needs oversight, in the way campaign ads have to follow certain rules, but if the Russian Embassy bought political ads on Facebook, I think that would be fine.

There is a public interest in knowing who says what in a political discussion. This is why, whether it's a campaign or a PAC or a foreign government, political ads come with "paid for by XYZ" disclaimers. Cambridge Analytica deliberately skirted those rules to do what they were written to prevent.

There is also public interest in ensuring foreigners pushing political agendas do so in good faith. Promoting both sides of a debate, with the intention of sparking conflict, for example, is acting in bad faith [1]. Cambridge Analytica broke these rules [2]. In doing so, they enabled--deliberately or negligently--what those rules were written to prevent.

The line between "using" and "manipulating" any medium comes down to legality and intent. There are grey areas in those delineations. Cambridge Analytica jumped over the ambiguity into clear illegality, wanton disregard and in-your-face bad-faith behaviour [3]. They did so by taking advantage of Facebook's comercially-incentivised negligence and our election oversight system's blind spot in respect of online ads.

[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-trolls-senate-intellig...

[2] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-cambridge-...

[3] https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/politics/alexander-nix-cambri...

[TheCoelacanth]

> if the Russian Embassy bought political ads on Facebook, I think that would be fine

Definitely not if they were political ads for a US election. It is illegal for foreign nationals without permanent resident status to participate in election campaign activities in that manner[1].

[1] https://www.fec.gov/updates/foreign-nationals/