Thursday, February 22, 2018

It's Only "Undeniable" That "Russia Affect[ed] the 2016 Elections" If You Assume Your Conclusions

The last section of Molly McKew's Wired essay about the recent DOJ indictment of Russian influence in the 2016 is a conclusion in search of supporting evidence:
4. What impact did it have?
We’re only at the beginning of having an answer to this question because we’ve only just begun to ask some of the right questions. But Mueller’s indictment shows that Russian accounts and agents accomplished more than just stoking divisions and tensions with sloppy propaganda memes. The messaging was more sophisticated, and some Americans took action. For example, the indictment recounts a number of instances where events and demonstrations were organized by Russians posing as Americans on social media. These accounts aimed to get people to do specific things. And it turns out—some people did.
How many? Did the material change the minds and votes of undecided voters? These questions she lacks answers to, but that it did is taken as an article of faith. It explains the nutjobbery of CNN in this excerpt:

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