This chapter from my monograph Social Media and The Post-Truth World Order recounts, analyzes and theoretically frames the impact of influence operations via social media, especially Facebook, carried by Kremlin-affiliated online propaganda and disinformation outfit named Internet Research Agency (IRA). The entity attempted to covertly influence the 2016 presidential elections in the United States, by openly supporting Donald Trump and underminging the Clinton campaign.
The chapter locates the IRA development in the context of domestic Russian politics and discusses its later evolution as an agent of information warfare in the conflict in Ukraine.
The chapter also tackles the theme of political polarization within American society, a problematic feature of US politics that was exploited and exacerbated by a coordinated strategy of political interference directed by the Russian government aimed at sowing distrust and confusions among voters, and at attacking the legitimacy of the democratic process.
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Gabriele Cosentino 
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