Yes. Unfortunately, social media tools, as many previous witnesses have reported, have been weaponized by various state actors and other interest groups. They are too accessible to the public in trying to shape public opinion. In some cases we hear reports about large, automated bot networks. Sometimes it's questionable, though, how effective they might be, simply because it's very hard to gain credibility on social media platforms. In some cases, like Internet research agency cases, where we actually had data provided by Twitter to researchers to dissect, investigate and do a post-mortem of their dataset, we noticed how those bot accounts would develop their credibility by posting innocent content on sites like X, later on switching to different narratives.
This is to say that state actors are using social media platforms across the board to shape our narratives and how we view them, but they also tap into our divisions and polarization. That can be done covertly or overtly. Last year, for example, the Twitter account for the Russian embassy in Ottawa was tweeting anti-LGBTQ messages on its platform. That was not hidden. It was explicit. They were speaking to the group of individuals in this country who might already have subscribed to some of those views.
That's a bit of a long answer, but I think we do see impact. Whether it's direct or indirect, a state actor is trying to impact narratives and influence opinions. Also—