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US Election "interference"

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probinson

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I often see people who talk about social media posts from Russia (and other countries) as being classified as "election interference". But I'm not sure why.

Of course, everybody runs straight to the Mueller report. They usually leave this tiny detail out:

But the report drew no conclusion about whether the interference changed the result, and did not establish a criminal conspiracy by the Trump campaign.​
​
​
So here's my question: If people in foreign countries posting online about the US election is classified as "election interference", wouldn't that mean that those from other countries posting in this political forum for or against a specific candidate are engaging in "election interference" as well?
 
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essentialsaltes

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eleos1954

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well .... unless something is actually proven then its a theory ... not fact ... it's not above the government (any government) to put out propaganda as well.
 
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RocksInMyHead

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Potentially, though that would depend on their motivations. People are entitled to share their opinions online, even on things that don't directly affect them. The problems come when they start sharing things that aren't their opinions (but rather, are the opinions of someone who is paying them to repeat those opinions) or misrepresent themselves in order to push a narrative. That would be election interference, and it can be very difficult to detect in an anonymous online setting without access to IP logs and other identifying metrics.
 
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Fantine

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Russian interference is organized, widespread, dangerous. Very different from one man's opinion.

Social media needs to ban hacking--which is not free speech. It can be used to bulk the naive in fake charity, investment, or retail schemes; or to obtain private information.
 
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probinson

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Fantine said:
Russian interference is organized, widespread, dangerous.
Click to expand...

Ahem.

But the report drew no conclusion about whether the interference changed the result​

How "dangerous" can it be if it can't even be determined if the interference changed the result?

Fantine said:
Very different from one man's opinion.
Click to expand...

Not really. When someone sees something online and believes it, it doesn't much matter if it came from a Russian bot or an individual's opinion. The net effect is the same.

Fantine said:
Social media needs to ban hacking--which is not free speech.
Click to expand...

Define what you mean by "hacking". And how does this pertain to the current discussion?
 
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essentialsaltes

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probinson said:
How "dangerous" can it be if it can't even be determined if the interference changed the result?
Click to expand...
Like noncitizen voting, election interference by foreign governments is illegal regardless of any determination of its impact on any given election.
 
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probinson

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essentialsaltes said:
Like noncitizen voting, election interference by foreign governments is illegal regardless of any determination of its impact on any given election.
Click to expand...

But is making posts on social media platforms really "election interference"?
 
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RocksInMyHead

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probinson said:
But is making posts on social media platforms really "election interference"?
Click to expand...
As I said in post #4, it depends.

Let's take a hypothetical Russian person - "Vladimir." If Vladimir goes on Facebook completely of his own accord and says, "I love Donald Trump! He's the best choice for US president in 2024!" that's a normal social media post; not election interference. However, if Vladimir is one of thousands of people paid by the Russian government to go on Facebook and post that, then that could be called election interference. And if Vladimir poses as "Brad from Iowa" and posts the same thing, then that could be considered interference as well (especially if he's one of thousands of people paid by the Russian government to do so).
 
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essentialsaltes

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probinson said:
But is making posts on social media platforms really "election interference"?
Click to expand...
Foreign electoral interventions are attempts by governments, covertly or overtly, to influence elections in another country.

Foreign election interference includes any covert, fraudulent, deceptive, or unlawful act or attempted act, or knowing use of information acquired by theft, undertaken with the specific intent to significantly influence voters, undermine public confidence in election processes or institutions, or influence, undermine confidence in, or alter the result or reported result of, a general or primary Federal, State, or local election or caucus

What Twitter’s massive new data dump reveals about Russian trolls [2018]​

“Crystal1Johnson,” [whose bio said she was from Richmond, Virginia] since suspended form the social media platform, was a fake Russian account run by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), according to Twitter.

It’s one of thousands released this week by Twitter as part of a huge 9-million-tweet collection of the Russian group’s activities – the most comprehensive accounting to date of the so-called IRA’s efforts to use fake social media posts to inflame American society and influence its elections.
 
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durangodawood

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Good summary of the situation described by the Mueller report, as summarized in the OP article.
 
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