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First, to get this out of the way: Russia isn't doing anything special here. They're not creating the divisions. They aren't responsible for those divisions existing, even. They're merely exploiting them, like any other hack. Our 'psycho-security' for lack of a better term is as flawed as our cyber security, with way too many vulnerabilities left in because it's easier that way. Why patch the flaw when the ROI isn't there and it makes it easier for the actual users of the system to manipulate us (critical thinking? That causes you to question the constant advertising and that might make you buy fewer stuff!). Blaming Russia for all our problems is a copout and doesn't actually address our problem. It just lets us point the finger at somebody else.
That said? We can certainly use a layered strategy -- dare I say Defence in Depth -- to deal with our problems, and going after Russia is a valid response. If we can block them funding Alt-Right parties and memes/ideas, that's less bullshit to bombard people with. It's not the total answer, of course, but every dollar taken out of circulation from Russia going to Jill Stein, Junior, and of course Trump and his flying monkeys, is one fewer dollar funding an ad campaign or paying for dishonest posters who say we should vote Third Party because Dems aren't tough enough on Israel. Again, we'll still get a few of the True Believers and self-funded kooks (qooqs?) posting that bullshit but their reach will be limited. This is good for all of us.
We should also be looking harder at platforms like Facebook and Twitter that have relaxed, or in the case of Musk with Twitter, outright removed the people in charge of making sure that their platforms aren't just disinformation fire hoses spewing shit all over the place. When we have millions of people that are part of a cult, or just lack any critical thinking ability, the last thing we need as a society is these large platforms designed to just put the worst conspiracy/hate/*phobic stuff in front of as many eyeballs as possible.
Yeah. I'm kinda of two minds on this idea. On one hand, I agree with the notion that 'the cure for speech you don't like is more speech', so outright banning BS like the X-Verse would be harmful in my eyes, but the algorithms blocking stuff you don't agree with while shoving whatever toxic BS you eat up for engagement is a huge part of why our country is as fucked as it is! It's also good that these people are talking out in public rather than hiding in covens of hatemongers all clad in full-coverage pointy-hoods. Gives us more understanding of what we're up against.
How do we rein in the Social Media companies without shutting down (more like driving underground) these hateful views? Maybe outlaw AI filtering what we see, requiring Social Media platforms to show ALL posts and comments in chronological order, with Ads being outside of the Timeline, and the only posts being blocked being those the user has explicitly blocked (by post or by user)? 🤔
Yeah I didn't mean to suggest going as far as shutting any of the platforms down, but they shouldn't be able to game their algorithms to push hate speech and conspiracy theories while suppressing facts. Unless they wanted to put a disclaimer under every use of said algorithm stating such. Although, at least in the US, hate speech isn't always protected speech.