Political campaigning in the age of social media

3D-printed Facebook and Twitter logos are seen in this picture illustration made in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina on January 26, 2016. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Files

When Facebook Inc admitted last week that an operation connected to Russia bought some US$100,000 (RM420,750) worth of advertising on its network during the 2016 campaign, it raised some unsettling questions about the intersection of social media and politics. 

Those questions – both broad and narrow – will only get more urgent as the next US election rolls around.