The fact of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election is no longer in doubt. The steady drip of revelations has confirmed intense efforts to affect the outcome of that vote. The evidence also makes clear that the Russian program was much different from that which was originally anticipated by experts and reveals a keen understanding of U.S. political dynamics and an exceptionally sophisticated campaign by Russian hackers and intelligence agents to affect the results. To think that only the United States is the object of Russian interest is a dangerous assumption, one belied by the facts. Other governments must prepare for this eventuality and begin to think about ways to both defend against and deter future meddling.
Initial concerns of Russian involvement focused on hacking the Democratic National Committee to release embarrassing emails and tampering with voter rolls and voting machines that would directly impact the voting process. While the first charge is still being debated, there is little evidence that the manipulations of records or machines occurred. Instead, and more insidiously, it now looks as if Russia attempted to influence voters' decisions about how to vote. The proof is Facebook's belated acknowledgement — after denying any proof — that Russian entities had purchased political ads during the election campaign.
One focus of interest is the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a St. Petersburg-based "troll farm" where hackers created fake social media accounts to spread propaganda. Facebook has found 470 fake pages and accounts affiliated with IRA that spent about $150,000 to purchase 5,000 ads between June 2015 and May 2017. The ads did not mention the election or specific candidates but addressed "divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum," explained one Facebook official. (Facebook has not provided more details.)