Don’t Hype the Disinformation Threat
▻https://www.foreignaffairs.com/russian-federation/dont-hype-disinformation-threat
Often, Russian disinformation echoes talking points by the American far right, rather than the other way around.
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This dynamic, whereby American conspiracy theorists and foreign intelligence operatives feed off one another in a vicious circle, is not new. During the Cold War, the KGB carried out active measures against Moscow’s rivals, exploiting existing social fissures by, say, picking up and amplifying rumors in a target country. Then as now, foreign operatives rarely invent political divisions or conspiracy theories: they magnify existing ones.
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Exaggerating the effects of foreign influence campaigns serves only the foreign operatives. It fosters a conspiratorial outlook, in which shadowy enemies are supposedly creating wedge issues, dissenters are merely parroting foreign spies, and trust in open democratic debate is eroded. Most important, false claims of clandestine foreign interference absolve U.S. leaders of responsibility for the health of our political discourse.