
Google: Security and Disinformation US 2016 Election - Zhenya
https://blog.google/topics/public-policy/security-and-disinformation-us-2016-election/
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RcouF1uZ4gsC
If $4700 in ads could sway an entire US Presidential election, that has to be
the most cost-effective use of money to achieve a foreign policy objective in
the history of the world.

~~~
AaronFriel
It's far from that. Didn't Google report thousands of hours of YouTube videos
created? Combine this with disinformation on Twitter, Facebook, and less
transparent media like 4chan and Reddit, and the sheer amount of person hours
spent impersonating Americans pushing one talking point or another can have a
profound effect.

The problem with Correct the Record was, other than an extremely shortsighted
objective, the fact that everyone knew about it. People who legitimately
defended Hillary Clinton were assumed to be shills, to be "correcting the
record" and this backfired tremendously.

Keep that in mind with these releases. The advertising dollars aren't the
major news. It's the sock puppets and vote/conversation manipulation that are
by far the largest component of the disinformation campaign. Those costs won't
be public, either.

~~~
shpx
"We found 18 [Youtube] channels likely associated with this campaign that made
videos publicly available, in English and with content that appeared to be
political (These channels also posted non-political videos, e.g., personal
travelogues). There were 1,108 such videos uploaded, representing 43 hours of
content and totaling 309,000 U.S. views from June 2015 to November 2016. These
videos generally had very low view counts; only around 3 percent had more than
5,000 views. These channels’ videos were not targeted to the U.S. or to any
particular sector of the U.S. population."

~~~
AaronFriel
That seems like a low count of channels, videos, and hours, does that include
the content existing channels were paid to create? e.g.: the divisive
messaging on Black Lives Matter, where the Internet Research Agency was found
to have paid existing content creators to post messages for or against the
organization.

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rdtsc
> We​ ​found​ ​that​ ​two​ ​accounts​ ​linked​ ​to​ ​the​ ​Internet​
> ​Research​ ​Agency​ ​spent​ ​a​ ​total​ ​of​ ​$4,700​ ​on​ ​our platforms​
> ​during​ ​the​ ​2016​ ​election​ ​cycle.​ ​This​ ​figure​ ​covers​ ​both​
> ​search​ ​and​ ​display​ ​ads.

> Publisher​ ​products:​ ​ ​We​ ​found​ ​less​ ​than​ ​$35​ ​in​ ​AdSense​
> ​and​ ​Ad​ ​Exchange​ ​revenue​ ​from​ ​ads​ ​on associated​ ​sites.

Then Facebook we found spent $100k on ads. Twitter apparently went directly to
RT and implored them to target Americans with an ad campaign. Then made a
brave and patriotic move to publicly tell them off recently.

Mueller was investigating for months and got Manafort for tax evasion and
other corruption mostly around 2014 or so. That was when he was in bed with
the Democratic lobby group headed by Tony Podesta, who apparently now is
stepping down as well [https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/30/tony-podesta-
stepp...](https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/30/tony-podesta-stepping-
down-from-lobbying-giant-amid-mueller-probe-244314).

Clinton campaign: spent $1B+, had most of the large media conglomerates on her
side, Wall Street, major tech companies sponsor and support her, debate
questions passed to her ahead of time, best campaign managers, sitting
president flying and campaigning on her behalf, and somehow some ads on
Facebook and $5000 spent on Google overturned the result of the election?

Is this enough to convince everyone that there is probably no grand Russian
collusion and they have been believing a conspiracy theory? Not really. After
heading the wrong way for such a long time, it is hard to swallow ones pride
and say "Oops, been driving the wrong way for about half a day, should
definitely turn around". That's surprisingly hard to do, and is the reason
people end up stranded in the desert or on an unmarked road in the mountains
in a snow storm. Or another example would be the people in those doomsday
cults, who surprisingly stay with the cult even after the end of the world
date passes uneventfully. You'd think it would be pretty clear by then what's
going on. But no, there is a new date set, and they stay and start believing
ever more fervently than before.

~~~
euyyn
The existence or not of collusion is independent on whether said collusion was
ineffective or unnecessary.

The allure of populist retoric is very powerful, and this election showed it's
a weak spot in the American system.

~~~
reitanqild
> The existence or not of collusion is independent on whether said collusion
> was ineffective or unnecessary.

Am I misreading you or are you effectively saying that non-existent collusion
can be as effective as existing collusion?

I've read it three times now.

(As usual I guess I should point out the sitting POTUS is and was not my
preferred choice.)

~~~
euyyn
Nah, I'm rebutting the argument of "the effect of any possible collusion was
small, so no collusion existed".

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moltar
I feel that Google is trolling. $4,700 spent on ads? I know advertisers that
spend that much per hour. This is a drop in an ocean. That’s 94,000 clicks at
best ($0.05/click). But probably won’t get such low clicks. At 5% engagement
rate you’ll engage 4,700 people.

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LyndsySimon
The most interesting part of this is the timing - on the same day as the first
indictments from Mueller, and a week before election day.

