I don't remember the fact-checked story or anything like that, so I'm going to focus my response mainly on the role that I think influencers can play in the dissemination of misinformation and disinformation when we're looking at things like COVID misinformation, for example.
It's really a small number of people who tend to generate the most engagement around the conspiracy theories. Thinking about the role of people who have large audiences on social media, you'll find that there's almost a greater incentive or a greater reason to—you know, with great power comes great responsibility—kind of take more steps to ensure that fair, accurate and good information is going out to audiences. However, forums in particular have not traditionally taken that path. There have been a lot of whistle-blower documents that have shown specific kinds of white lists of accounts from people who are influencers who have large followings and can get past a lot of the moderation systems because it generates engagement.
For me, I think the problem is really there, and we should not be so worried about a Russian Twitter account that's not generating as much engagement and not reaching mainstream public attention. However, we should also be thinking more broadly about the role of influencers.
I also think that's why we see a lot of Russian information operations pivoting to hiring and co-opting local voices and people who already have audiences. If we're thinking about policy responses to, you know, generating that kind of trust, building a culture for influencers to do some defending of democracy could be a potential positive route, but you also don't want to be paying them to do that kind of stuff. You know what I mean.