WASHINGTON -- Obstruction, collusion, coordination -- finding the truth on these investigations matter. But we shouldn't be so blinded by this, that we miss what's perhaps the bigger picture: Our democracy was attacked.
The report is unequivocal.
Russia hacked us. Russia used social media to sow social discord. The effort was systematic and targeted, and at least with the social media aspect, we are partially to blame.
The Mueller report provides more information on the social media effort, then we've ever had before. The Internet Research Agency (IRA) has been waging "informational warfare" since 2014.
The IRA, based in Saint Petersburg, Russia, is funded by a Russian oligarch named Yevgeniy Prigozhin. IRA played an important role in the 2016 election. The Mueller report showed that the posts were overwhelmingly in favor of then-candidate Donald Trump, and in opposition to then-candidate Hillary Clinton.
The IRA agents pretended to be American advocates or groups, so as to grow a following.
Take Jenn Abrams. She was a Twitter influencer, claiming to be a Virginia Trump supporter. She had 70,000 followers. It turns out, she was a fake account created by the IRA.
On Facebook, there were fake conservative groups, operated by Russians, like "Being Patriotic," "Stop All Immigrants," and "Secured Borders." There were also black social justice groups like "Black Matters" and Blacktivist." There were LGBTQ groups with names like "LGBT United."
And we fell for it.
For example, the "United Muslims of America," an IRA-operated Facebook group, had over 300,000 followers, the "Don't Shoot Us" group had over 250,000 followers, and the "Being Patriotic" group had over 200,000 followers.
These posts may have reached an estimated 126 million people, according to the report. That's more than the populations of California, Florida and Texas combined.
And it wasn't just posts. The fake accounts helped coordinate local rallies, in cities like New York, Florida and Pennsylvania. Little did the guests of the rally know that the Russians planned the rally from 5,000 miles away.
My Takeaway:
We need to check our emotions and think more on social media.
These accounts were trying to hit at our most "divisive feelings." Rather than falling for this trap, we should learn to think critically about whether it's a real account.
Better yet, just click "unfollow."
If we continue to demonize and hate the person behind social media posts, we are playing into the hands of those who wish to break our country apart.