What the Indictment of 13 Russians Means for Democracy

In February of this year, FBI director Robert Mueller charged multiple Russian actors with interfering with the presidential election of businessman Donald Trump versus then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Having been kept under wraps during the 2016 election by the Obama administration, it is just now coming to light just how much the actions of the Putin regime have affected the institutions of American democracy and elections. The modern invention of social media is now a tool used to instill diviseness in the land of glorified liberalism. Now, our own citizens are mere pawns in the game of a foreign adversary. The impact of Russian interference is much grander than that of who wins in a single election cycle.

The majority of Americans who could vote in our elections often opt out. The reason I have heard all too many times is that your vote “doesn’t really make a difference.” While I agree that the members of the electoral college’s ability to vote freely is quite counter-productive to democracy, I still find it quite shocking how many people do not exercise their ability to vote. Among developed nations, America has a very poor attendance record for those who actually show up to the voting polls. However, now I would not blame anyone for not voting in the next election. It makes complete sense for an American to lose faith in the process of voting in elections if they believe that some foreign agent is going to throw the election one way yet again.

In the 2016 presidential election, Russian leader Vladimir Putin supported both candidates Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, while working to discredit Hillary Clinton. When the candidates were narrowed down to Trump versus Clinton, Russian bots took to Trump’s side during their persuasion of American voters. Despite American authorities knowing Russian involvement to have truly happened, President Trump has denied in the past that Putin and his people would have done anything like that. This only adds to the distrust and confusion among Americans. An open discussion from the president would stop this whole debacle from seeming like it is Russia and the president versus the FBI. When in actuality, this is truly Russia versus the United States.

FBI Director Mueller’s first steps to investigate the Russian hacking have proven to be solid choices for America. However, indicting people who will probably never again step foot in the U.S. is more for show than anything else. This indictment may show Putin that we are on to him, but it will not actually accomplish much more than that. Certainly, with evidence that with the upcoming midterm elections are being influenced once again, he will not cease his involvement with American institutions anytime soon. Advertisements will continue to be bought under fake companies. Meanwhile, fabricated American personas will attempt to incite rallies and divisive social media posts. It looks as if democracy is facing its worst enemy since the first Cold War took place.

To a computer novice, it would be easy to say that all peoples purchasing Facebook ads would have to register their IP addresses, but those can easily be made to portray a fake location. You could ban Russians from certain social media or have to be flagged as such, but that would be considered discrimination. As President Obama learned, confronting Putin is of no help as his administration adamantly denies any involvement. As Putin brilliantly predicted it would, this leaves the American government between a rock and a hard place. How does an investigator place a foreign national as the kingpin behind a masterful hacking ring that leave no traces that tie back to Putin?

Now that the government is aware that Russian hacking has and is taking place in regards to American elections, full disclosure to the American public is necessary. While it has been taking place in subtle ways on some social media platforms, there needs to be complete transparency of who is funding what types of advertisements. Spam accounts on any platform or “news” sites need to be better regulated by bigger companies like Facebook and Google. Regulating the free press does not mean dictating the opinions expressed; it means revealing the sources that put out blatant lies as a means to manipulate Americans. There is no simple fix to this issue but taking the actions to raise awareness can actually go quite a long way.