How Russia’s influence campaign is paying off

In today’s The Big Story podcast, last month, the U.S. Department of Justice charged two employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, in a $10-million scheme to create and distribute content in the U.S. As the story evolved it became clear that the content was distributed by far-right influencers, including a Canadian.

Stephanie Carvin is a former national security analyst and an associate professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. “Russia is looking for real human people that people know and trust, to spread messages, they’re not turning to artificial intelligence, at least not yet,” says Carvin.  

Russia’s attempts to fracture politics in the West is nothing new. So why has it worked so well? And what have we actually done in Canada to confront it?