Brian Ober

Zelenskyy: "When our strikes reached Yandex data centers, it suddenly became little easier to breathe on many social media platforms. Many people noticed it. There was less hate, less division, fewer provocations because there were fewer bots. It's pretty clear where those bots were coming from. If they disappeared when Yandex went offline, this proves once again that Europe is not the source of the problems." The big problem is that Russia figured out how modern society consumes information a decade ago, but the West hasn't. ​There are millions of bots commenting and posting Russian propaganda. There are paid influencers spreading it, with Russian bots supporting their content. There is a gigantic machine operating to radicalize and influence Western societies, and there is not enough defense in place. It doesn't just influence elections, it sows discord, engulfs societies in culture wars, radicalizes teenagers, and shapes political decisions when elected officials fail to read the room. ​That needs to change. And fast.