Pattern Matching
What Social Media Companies Have Fixed Since the 2016 Election
And a few things they haven’t
In 2016, everyone from Russian agents to British political consultants to Macedonian teenagers to randos in the American suburbs used social platforms with impunity to spread misinformation ahead of the U.S. presidential election. Much of it favored Trump, who pulled off a stunning upset victory.
Just how much influence those campaigns had on the outcome has never been established, and probably never will be. There is at least some research to suggest that Russian trolls, for instance, are not particularly effective at changing Americans’ political opinions. Still, it was widely agreed in the aftermath (though not by Trump) that the platforms had been far too easily exploited for the purpose of election interference, and that their dynamics had favored hoaxes and hyperpartisanship over reliable information sources.
On the eve of the next U.S. presidential election, it is fair to say that the platforms have come a long way in acknowledging and taking steps to address the most blatant of those abuses. What isn’t yet clear is how much of a difference those steps will make.
