Just in Case Moscow Is Still Meddling, Here’s What to Do
Internet platform companies such as Facebook should create teams focused on Russia, an NYU report says.
President Trump seemed to say on July 18 that Russians are no longer attacking U.S. elections. But that’s a lonely position: even his director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, disagrees. So it seems like a good idea to erect stronger defenses than those in place in 2016, when Russian ads and fake news sowed discord and possibly helped tip the election in Trump’s favor.
A report issued on July 23 has a series of sensible recommendations for internet platform companies and governments around the world with defenses that would meddle with the Russian meddlers without impinging on civil liberties. Called “Combating Russian Disinformation: The Case for Stepping Up the Fight Online,” it’s from the Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University’s Stern School of Business. The authors are Paul Barrett, a former writer for Bloomberg Businessweek; Tara Wadhwa; and Dorothee Baumann-Pauly.