Hillary Clinton — tech has to fix fake news

Jefferson Graham | USA TODAY

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. — Hillary Clinton put much of the blame to social media for her dramatic 2016 loss to president Donald Trump in a session at the Code conference here.

At turns candid and defiant, Clinton spoke at length about the roots of her loss, saying she was a victim of fake news articles on Facebook and Twitter — part of an orchestrated campaign by the Russians and conservative opponents.

The 2016 election was "the first time you had the tech revolution weaponized politically," she said. "Before it was just a way to reach voters, That changed this time,"

Fake news articles "were flat-out false" and delivered in "a very personalized way," said Clinton. Fingering Facebook, she said the "vast majority of the news items were fake," people believed them and either voted against her or not at all.

"If I put myself in the position of Facebook, they have to get back to curating (the News Feed) it more effectively and preventing fake news from creating a new reality," Clinton said.

She also took on Twitter, wondering why the president has a larger following: 31 million to her 15 million.

"We know they’re bots," she said. The bots are "to make him look more popular than he is."

What is the message?" she asked. Trump's tweets are "to divert attention" from unfavorable headlines. "It’s the circus, what a classic authoritarian does," she said. "They want to influence your reality. That to me is what we’re up against, and we can’t let that go unanswered."

On fake news items allegedly planted by Russians, Clinton asked, "How did they know what messages to deliver? Who told them? Who were they colluding with? The Russians historically launch cyber attacks and steal information. The Russians, in my opinion, could not have known how best to weaponize the operation unless they were guided by Americans."

Congress committees and a special counselor are investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

She noted that the leaks and fake news being generated during the election stopped in January, after Trump's inauguration. "They haven't done anything since," she said. "They got their job done."

Clinton said her goal now is to help Democrats win gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia and flip the Congress to blue in 2018.

"Everything will change if we win in 2018," Clinton said.