Analysis of the Method and Political Objectives of Cyber Intervention Elements Associated with Russia in the US Presidential Election of 2016

Subject Areas : International Relations

Saeedeh Moradifar ¹ , ali omidi ²

1 - Associate Professor of International Relations, Department of Political Science, University of Isfahan
2 - Associate Professor of International Relations, Department of Political Science, University of Isfahan

Received: 2019-12-13 Accepted : 2019-12-13 Published : 2019-11-22

Keywords: social media, intervention, Post-truth, intelligence warfare, cyber influence,

Abstract :

  Abstract: Based on evidence provided by the Americans, Russia was able to influence the US presidential election in 2016. Moscow by using its cyberspace technologies could pursue its political goals at a time which it is called post-truth era. Therefore, the main question of this article is how Russia intervened in the presidential election in 2016 and basically what Russia main goal was for this intervention. The hypothesis of this article, which has been analyzed by descriptive-analytic method, is that Russia influenced by the use of cyberspace technologies such as social media, robots and trolls, with the propagation of fraudulent news or selective information to undermine Hillary Clinton's opportunity to win and therefore boost the candidacy of Donald Trump. This issue in turn undermined the US public's confidence in the political institutions and has brought about the intensification of Moscow-Washington relations afterwards. Although Russia officially and repeatedly denied such an intervention by government sources, But the authors, according to the evidence presented by the "United States Intelligence Community" and "the Director of National Intelligence" in 2016, as well as the "Robert Müller Report" in 2019, in which 26 individuals and three Russian entities were charged with cyber – intervention, It assumes the intervention of elements from the Russian soil (not necessarily the Russian government) in the election. This article investigates the consequences of this intervention.

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