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We're getting very close to the point where elections in democracies can really be bought. As imperfect as print newspapers were for the purpose of informing the citizenry (see: manufacturing consent) it was the devil that we knew, the new devil has a level of venom that is much more powerful.

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I've yet to see any data on how effective these social media ops actually are.

It's a tough effect to analyze effectively, given how indirect and disconnected the effect they're aiming for is from their ops. But the thing is, they're really, really cheap in relative terms. With the ones run by nation states, even a minor return is going to be an infinitesimal part of their budget with very little risk to them. Even minor successes would be more than sufficient.

I mean, the Army funded the Stargate Project[0] for nearly two decades. Social media ops have at least an advantage or two over staring at goats.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project

semi-serious comment: that's just the kind of comment a social media op would generate.

I don't see anything more than what a PR agency would be doing. Hunderds of interest groups run camaigns in all kinds of elections to help support favorable candidates.

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