Page history

BeforeAlgorithmic amplification, bot networks, and Cambridge Analytica controversies.

AfterCoordinated inauthentic accounts and voter data targeting become subjects of federal inquiry. The January 2017 intelligence community assessment concluded that Russia conducted an influence campaign targeting the election. The same document states that it made no assessment of whether that campaign affected the outcome — a limit worth stating explicitly, because the assessment is frequently cited in both directions on that question. Published figures on the scale of the platform activity differ by what they count. Facebook's own September 2017 disclosure described roughly $100,000 in ad …