How Russia’s influence campaign is a lot like a reality TV show

The New York Times

“The Russians are running a reality show through Facebook and Twitter, and their contestants are all of us,” says Farhad Manjoo. “Over the past few days, I reached out to several reality show producers, asking them to compare the Russian digital influence campaign and the world of unscripted TV. The more they told me about reality shows, the more the metaphor seemed to explain Russia’s trolling campaign — how it worked, what it aimed to do and why campaigns like it will be so difficult to fight.”