WASHINGTON _ Russia's social media blitz to influence the 2016 U.S. election was part of a global "phenomenon" in which a broad spectrum of governments and political parties used internet platforms to spread junk news and disinformation in at least 48 countries last year, an Oxford University study has found.
Including U.S. government programs aimed at countering extremists such as Islamic fundamentalists, about $500 million has been spent worldwide on research, development or implementation of social media "psychological operations" since 2010, the authors estimated.
"The manipulation of public opinion over social media platforms has emerged as a critical threat to public life," the researchers wrote. They warned that, at a time when news consumption is increasingly occurring over the internet, this trend threatens "to undermine trust in the media, public institutions and science."
