The Facebook killing democracy meme is flattering for technologists but imo too simplistic. In America there are a number of “democracy killers” or “this is why we have trump” in the mainstream narrative: Russia, Racism, FBI, Facebook, electoral college, etc.

Let’s not forget people tilt towards economic or cultural nationalism for a reason, and it’s in our power to address those reasons directly, not chase band aid solutions.

A quip I read says: "Of course it's totally Putin's fault that Trump won, because actually everyone in the USA loves neoliberalism deep at heart!".

But Facebook became an effective tool for a "voter hacking", if you believe the coverage about Cambridge Analytica: data-mine the Facebook profiles to determine the targets (apparently as little as several thousand people in the swing states), and then use FB's targeted advertising to influence these people with videos you know will get them emotionally. Boom. Hacking elections/voting machines is illegal, but no one ever said anything about hacking the voters, right?

Maybe, but unlike hacking voting machines (which remove voters) this scheme relies on rallying real people to go and vote. It would have been achievable with traditional campaigning methods, just more expensively.

But why aren't we addressing the underlying issue of why these several thousand people in swing states thought to vote in this way? How come the mainstream response is to say "gee I wish those people hadn't voted"?

I think addressing the underlying concerns would be more effective. I get that politics can be zero-sum at times but campaigning in swing states and targeting issues that those voters find important should be part of every campaign.

"The this is why we have Trump" blame keeps shifting as long as Liberals are unable to acknowledge their own lack of empathy for their compatriots and their own failures to provide solutions that work for what ails their country.