Fake News and Election Interference--The Late 2010s, the Era of Information Manipulation."

Fake News and Election Interference--The Late 2010s, the Era of Information Manipulation."

In the late 2010s, social media came to be positioned at the center of politics and public opinion formation. At the same time, Facebook and Twitter also became a stage for exploitation in state-level information warfare. In particular, the 2016 U.S. presidential election shocked the international community when U.S. intelligence and congressional investigations confirmed that Russia had interfered via cyberspace.

At the time, Russian activities were reportedly aimed at amplifying division and distrust within the U.S. rather than directly tampering with voting results. Facebook ads are low-cost and vastly spreadable, and an organization called the IRA (Internet Research Agency) used fake accounts to target sensitive issues such as immigration, gun control, and racial tensions. They posted messages urging black voters to boycott the polls, saying that "voting is pointless," while conservative voters were told that "immigrants are taking away jobs. Thus, "micro-targeting" was implemented to distribute different false information to different segments of the population.

On Twitter, automated bots retweeted posts in large numbers, creating the illusion of a mass public opinion. Studies show that millions of false information reached American users in the months leading up to the election, with total impressions reaching hundreds of millions. It is believed that these false information served to reinforce distrust of the Clinton campaign in the final stages of the campaign.

In the background is the post-Cold War deterioration of U.S.-Russian relations. Amid tensions over the situation in Ukraine and NATO's eastward expansion, Russia was seeking countermeasures not only with military power but also in the information space. By shaking up the politics of Western countries, it aimed to gain an advantage in its own geopolitical position. As part of this "hybrid warfare," the spread of false news was emphasized.

In the United States, since 2017, Facebook and Twitter executives testified in congressional hearings and hundreds of pages of advertising data were made public. This has led to widespread recognition of the risks that social networking sites pose to the foundations of democracy and prompted countries to strengthen their disinformation measures. Fake news and election interference have shaken the foundations of modern democracy by showing the world how vulnerable free speech spaces are.